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DAVIS, BARDEEN & CO., 
gtthlistf^rs, §aah§dl^rB ^§Maners 

WMte Memorial Building, VanderbUt Square, 
SYBACUSE, N. Y, 




TEAG 



o ilU-i 1 , - k - *X> -i^ 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



;rs 



FOR CENTRAL NEW YORK. 



All kinds of School Apparatus kept constantly in stock, from 

Black-lpoard Crayons to costly Electric Machines. 

Come and see before purchasing- elsewhere. 

Magazines and New Books received as soon as Issued. 
Any Book publislned -will be ordered and 
promptly furnished. School Supplies 
and Books for Libraries fur- 
nished at lo-w rates. 

Call or Write lor anytliiiig you want, m TrouWe to slow Boolis or gm Information. 



A NE-W BASIS OP PRICES. 



Scbool finlletin Filicaiions 



1. The Bulletin Blank Spellek.— This contains 40 pages, octavo size, 
and is bound in Stiff Covers, so that it may be written in when laid npon 
the knee. It is ruled for 70 lessons of 25 words each, with additional pages 
for misspelled words. It also contains rules for spelling, lists of misspelled 
words, etc. Of its general character and utility, we need only say that it 
was prepared by Principal H. B. Buckham, of the Buffalo State Normal 
School. At his desire, the price has been made less than one-half the usual 
charge for books of such a size, and we confidently rely upon an extensive 
?ale inever> county of the State. Price, 15 cts. each; ^10.00 per hundred, 
net. ' ~ 

2. The Bulletin Composition Book. — This is similar to the above, and 
prepared by the same author. It is ruled for correction by a system of 
time-saving marks, eacti of which points out a particular fault. Price as 
above, 15 cts. each-^ $10.00 per hundred, net. 

3. The Bulletin Writing Pad.— We sold Ten Thousand of these last 
term, sending them to Adelphi Academy, Brooklyn ; St. Lawrence University; 
the Buffalo Normal School, and to every part of the State. Each pad con- 
tains 96 leaves, 192 pages, 8X in- by 6. In lots of 500, a special back will be 
printed, when desired, giving the name of the school, regulations, etc. 
Price, $6.00 per hundred, /ie^. 

4. The Bulletin School Euler. — These are one foot long, one incW 
wide, printed on ^manilla tag-board (or 6 inches long, 1 inch wide, on very 
heavy cardboard, as preferred), with inches and metres on one side, and an 
immense amount ol statistical information on the other. Price, 3 cts. 
each; $1jOO per hundred. 

5. The Bulletin Book-Keeping Blanks. — Bay-Book, Journal and 
Ledger, each 36 pages, ruled for Single or Double Entry, and sufficient for a 
term's work. Price, 15 cents each. 

6. The Bulletin Class Register.— For several years, one thousand of 
these registers, designed by Supt. Edward Smith, have been u.?ed annually 
in the Public Schools of Syracuse, no other kind being- employed for any 
purpose whatever. Each one gives a daily register of 360 pupils for 20 
weeks, or of 180 pupils for 40 weeks, or of 90 pupils for 80 weeks, etc. It 
is the simplest, neatest, and cheapest Class Register made. Price, 25 cts. 
each. 

7. The Institute Song Budget, Enlarged Edition.— Nineteen thou- 
sand copies of this book having been sold, anew edition is now ready, aoTi- 
tammg one-half more than former editions, but sold at the same price. It 
now contains 72 pages, 107 songs, 5 full-page and many smaller illustrations. 
Price, 15 cts. each;' $10,00 per hundred, net. 

Illustrated Catalogue of the Bulletin Publicatiofis, some Mtj mnumher, 
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DAVIS, BARDEEN & CO., Publishers, Syracuse, N. Y, 





C^ ^^^c.^-^:-^::^^^^ 



Supt. of PuWic Instruction, State ol New York. 



'^ ■■■ 



CoMMOi School Law. 



A DIGEST 

or THE PROVISIONS OF STATUTE AND COMMON LAW AS TO THE 

RELATIONS OP THE TEACHER TO THE PUPIL, THE 

PARENT, AND THE DISTRICT. 

WITH FOUR HUNDRED REFERENCES 

TO LEGAL DECISIONS IN TWENTT-ONE DIEPERENT STATES ; TO 

WHICH ARE ADDED THE EIGHT HUNDRED QUESTIONS 

GIVEN AT THE FIRST FIVE NEW YORK 

EXAimATIO^^S FOR STATE CERTIFICATES. 



By C. wf BARDEEN, 



v^-j^ 



EDITOR OF THE SCHOOL BULLETIN. 



FOURTH EDITION, ENTIRELY RE-WRITTEN 




SYRACUSE, N. T.: 

DAVIS, BARDEEN & CO., PUBLISHERS. 

New York : Baker, Pratt & Co. 



Copyright, 1878, by C. W. Bardeen. 



^'^^ 



e> 



'2' 



NOTICES OF FORMER EDITIONS. 



The Cornell University, President's Roosis, } 
Ithaca, N, Y., March 31, 1876. f 
Dear Sirs : Accept my thanks for the li:?t of questions on 
School Law which you were so kind as to prepare for our Exam- 
ining Committee. They seemed to me in rvery respect excellent, 
and they led me to examine very carefully your little book on 
the general subjict, which strikei* me as admirably adapted to 
its purpose. Not only every teacher in the State, but every 
Member of the Legi!^lature and every Sujjervisor and School 
Commissioner, should have one. 

I remnin very truly yours, 
C. W. Bardeen, Esq. AND. D. WHITE. 

Fully supi)lies one of the greatest necessities ever experienced 
by teachers in our rural schools. — S. J). Wilbur^ School Commis- 
sioner. Second District, Broome Co. 

" Common School Law for Common School Teachers" should 
be considered a necessary part of pedagogic equipment. The 
treatise is small, but sufficient and sale. — Michigan Teacher. 

Cannot be called the best because there is nothing with which 
to compare it. It is simply invaluable to every teacher. — Siq)t. 
II. R. Sanford, late President State Teachers' Association, and 
for Jive years instructoi^ in School Law at the Fredonia State Nor- 
mal School. 

Is already adopted as a text-book in many schools, and fully 
supplies a great necessity. — National Teachers'* Monthly. 

This manual, although edited by an able teacher of New York 
with reference to the laws of that State, is also well fitted in the 
exposition of principles of school legislation to any State in the 
Union, and its references to cases cover the judicial decisions 
of the several States. — New England Journal of Education. 

"Common School Law for Common School Teachers" is the 
title of a legal treatise well known in the United States to all 
whom it concerns. It would seem that a similar work, treating 
of the legal rights, duties, and status of English schoolmasters, 
is much needed, — London Schoohnaster. 




PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 



Among the teaclier's first acquirements should be 
an accurate knowledge of his legal duties and of his 
legal rights. Unfortunately, he is usually satisfied 
to follow local traditions, and he often learns only by 
suffering the legal penalty of ignorance that there 
are established principles of law affecting all his oflS.- 
cial relations. To be successful, he must confidently 
" go ahead ;" but to be sure he is right, he must 
know the exact bounds of his legal authority. 

These bounds are defined partly by statute law 
and partly by decisions at common law. Statute law 
concerns itself mainly with the details of taxation, 
organization, and supervision. It usually refers only 
in general terms to the work of the teacher, and 
leaves to common law the discussion of his relations 
to the pupil and to the parent. Hence while the laws 
of the different States are wholly unlike in their pro- 
visions for the support and supervision of public 
schools, they are nearly uniform as to the rights and 
the duties of the teacher. The general principles laid 
down and illustrated in this treatise are as applicable 
in California or in Louisiana as in New York or Mas- 
sachusetts. Where there are differences of detail, 
the system of New York is followed, with references 
to the more striking divergencies in other States. 



PREFACE. 



The author's constant aim in this revision has been 
to make the book valuable to every teacher and 
school-officer in the United States. 

Since the first edition of this work was issued, 
three years ago, the author has been in frequent cor- 
respondence with lawyers and school- officers, and he 
gratefully acknowledges the assistance cordially ren- 
dered, especially in the way of full reports of impor- 
tant trials. He is indebted to nearly all the State 
Superintendents for the latest editions of the school- 
laws of the various states, and to many of them for 
private information as to recent decisions. He has 
read with interest the series of articles upon school- 
law now appearing in the Educational Weekly, and 
has frequently cited the " Kentucky School Lawyer," 
recently issued as an appendix to his report for 1878, 
by State Superintendent Henderson, of Kentucky. 

The frequent references in these pages are to au- 
thorities named on pages 89-93. A full index is 
given at the close of the book. 

Trusting that this enlarged edition will succeed to 
the favor which greeted its predecessors, the author 
dedicates it to teachers who seek to know their 
rights and, knowing, dare maintain them. 

Sykacusb, September 2, 1878. 



COMMON SCHOOL LAW. 



PART I.-THE TEACHER'S QUALIFICATM. 



CHAPTER I. 

GRANTING OF LICENSES. 

1. Necessity of a License. — In most States of 
the Union no person can legally contract to teach in 
any public school unless he holds a certificate of 
qualification, granted by an authority established 
for this purpose by statute. It is not sufficient 
that this certificate be obtained after the contract 
is made, even if it be antedated, for " a teacher's 
certificate must bear the same date as the examina- 
tion, and cannot legally bear any other" (111.^ But 
see Yt.^). 

" The purpose of requiring a certificate is to be 
assured of the qualifications of the teacher in ad- 
vance. He is not to practise on his pupils — keep 
one day ahead of his classes, and thus by going to 
school to himself fit himself to stand the ordeal of 
an examination which he could not have stood at 



6 THE teacher's QUALIFICATION. 



the beginning. Such a procedure is a fraud on 
the district" (Ky.^). 

In Illinois, the certificate must be exhibited to 
the Directors before the contract is made (111. ^) ; in 
Massachusetts, a duplicate certificate must be filed 
with the Selectmen before pay is drawn (Mass. ^) ; 
in Tennessee, the Commissioners are indictable if 
they employ a teacher not holding a certificate 
(Tenn.'). 

A teacher who keeps school without such certifi- 
cate can draw no pay for his services (Me.,^ N. H.,^ 
Vt.,^ Ind.,^ Cal.,^ N. Y.,^ etc.) ; he cannot even 
teach without compensation (Ind.^) ; he is liable 
to action for assault and battery if he resorts to 
the slightest corporal punishment. Not even the 
superintending officer — the School Commissioner or 
Superintendent, for instance — can take the teach- 
er's place and exercise his authority. The teacher 
gets his authority from his certificate (N". H.^). 

This is true even though the proper authorities 
neglect or wantonly refuse to examine him (Me.^). 
In New York, it is true if the teacher's certificate 
be annulled, even though the annulment be plainly 
illegal and an appeal be immediately taken to the 
State Department (N. Y.^). But in Wisconsin, if 
the certificate be annulled and the teacher appeals, 
he may, with the consent of the board, continue 
his school, and if his appeal is sustained all his 
rights are sustained (Wis.^). 

3. How Licenses are Obtained. — No person 
can contract or draw pay as a teacher in the public 



HOW LICENSES ARE OBTAINED. 



schools Of New York who is not legally qualified 
by holding an unexpired and unannulled certifi- 
cate of one of these five kinds : 

a. A diploma from some one of the eight Normal 
Schools. 

&. A State certificate, granted by the State Su- 
perintendent. 

c. A limited license, granted by the State Super- 
intendent. 

d. A certificate, granted by a legally authorized 
Board of Education. 

e. A certificate, granted by a County Commis- 
sioner. 

Of the 30,161 teachers reported to the Superin- 
tendent in 1878, 835 were thus licensed by Normal 
Schools, 1108 by the Superintendent, and 38,218 
by local officers. 

a. Normal School Diplomas. — To enter any Nor- 
mal School, pupils must be sixteen years of age, of 
good health, good moral character, and average 
abilities ; must be appointed by the State Superin- 
tendent upon recommendation of a County Commis- 
sioner or City Superintendent ; and must pass a fair 
examination in reading, spelling, geography, arith- 
metic as far as the roots, and the analysis and pars- 
ing of sentences. The shortest course occupies two 
years. Students may enter an advanced class, but 
must remain at least one year to receive a diploma. 
These schools are located at Albany, Oswego, Pots- 
dam, Brockport, Geneseo, Cortland, Fredonia, and 
Buffalo. A legal limit to the number of pupils re- 



8 THE teacher's QUALIFICATION. 

ceived has been fixed, but has not yet been ap- 
proached ; so that the schools are practically open 
to all who wish to fit themselves to become teach- 
ers. 

T). State Certificates. — State certificates may be 
granted by the State Superintendent only upon ex- 
amination. He determines the manner in which 
such examinations are conducted, and designates 
the persons to conduct the same and report the re- 
sult to him. Such examinations must be held at 
least once in each year, and due notice thereof 
given. The examination papers for such examina- 
tions as have thus far been held will be found in 
the appendix. 

c. State Licenses. — Temporary licenses to teach, 
limited to any school-commissioner district or 
school district, and for a period not exceeding six 
months, may be granted by the State Superinten- 
dent, ' ' whenever, in his judgment, it may be 
necessary or expedient for him to do so" (16). 
This power is rarely exercised. 

d. City Certificates. — The special laws relating to 
the schools of several large cities expressly confer 
the power of examining their own teachers upon 
either the Board of Education or the Superinten- 
dent. In these cities such examination is a condi- 
tion of contract, and must be submitted to even by 
those who hold diplomas or State certificates 
(411). 

In Ohio, however, ' ' the submission to a local 



HOW LICENSES ARE OBTAINED. 9 

examination, on the part of the holder of a State 
certificate, can be compelled only by special con- 
tract with the Board of Education employing such 
holder" (O.^). Of course, such examination quali- 
fies the teacher only for the schools under direc- 
control of the Board of Education which con- 
ducts it. 

e. Commissioners' Certificates. — Certificates are 
granted by School Commissioners to teachers 
within their own districts. For this purpose, an- 
nouncements are made that upon a certain day and 
at a designated place in each town, the Commis- 
sioners will be prepared to examine candidates. 
Further opportunities are granted as the Commis- 
sioner is making his rounds of visits (36), and at 
institutes. 

The law does not fix the standard of examina- 
tion, and usage varies most lamentably. But the 
comments of Superintendent Rice (30-37) and the 
decisions of the State Superintendent establish the 
practice substantially as follows : 

The teacher is examined {a) as to his moral 
character ; (/?) as to his learning ; (y) as to his tact 
in instruction and management. 

(a) The candidate must present affirmative evi- 
dence of good moral character (410). Certificates 
should not be granted to persons addicted to 
drunkenness (410), to the use of intoxicating 
liquors (30), or to profanity (N. Y.^). 

' ' The refusal of a teacher to pay his just debts 



10 THE teacher's QUALIFICATION. 

when able to do so, is dishonesty ; dishonesty is 
immorality, and debars from a certificate ' ' (Wis. ^), 
But the Commissioner must not consider the can- 
didate's religious or political opinions (30), or any 
feelings of personal dissatisfaction on the part of 
patrons of the school (406). 

((3) There is probably not one Commissioner in 
the State who w^ithholds certificates from all whom 
he knows to be insufficiently educated. Many at- 
tempt to create a demand for good teachers by cut- 
ting ofE the supjDly of those who are worthless, but 
cheap. Till such attempts are more universal and 
more vigorous, it will be farcical to quote these 
branches, set down by Superintendent Rice, as 
those upon which teachers must show " minute, 
accurate, and extensive knowledge. " 1. Definition 
of Words. 3. Arithmetic. 3. Geography. 4. 
Use of Charts, Globes, and School Apparatus. 5. 
English Grammar. 6. United States, English, 
Continental, and Universal History. 7. Science 
of government, including a knowledge of the 
character and operation of our State and national 
governments (31). 

As an illustration of the requirement where a 
positive standard is fixed, we copy the following 
from the School Law of California, pp. 59, 60 : 

" The order of examination, standard credits, and 
studies required for each certificate shall be as fol- 
lows : 



THE CALIFORNIA STANDARD. 11 

Foi'' Third Grade County Certificates^ 80 per cent 
of the following : 

1. General Questions 

3. Orthography 100 

3. Grammar 100 

4. Written Arithmetic 100 ' 

5. Geography 50 

6. Reading (with oral exercises) . 50 

7. Theory and Practice 50 

8. Defining (word analysis) 50 

9. Mental Arithmetic 50 

10. Oral Grammar 25 — 575 

For Second Ch^ade County Certificates^ 80 per cent 
of the above, and also 80 per cent of the following : 

11. History of the United States 50 

12. Composition 50 

13. Penmanship 25—700 

For First Gixide County Certificates^ 85 per cent 
of all the above, and also of the following : 

14. Algebra , 50 

15. Natural Philosophy 50 

16. Physiology 50 

17. Natural History 50 

18. Constitution of the United States 

and of California 25 

19. School Law of California 25 

20. Industrial Drawing 25 

21. Vocal Music 25—1000 

For Third^ Second^ and First Grade City and 
Stats Certificates^ applicants must obtain respec- 
tively 75, 80, and 85 per cent on the entire list of 
1000 credits." 



13 THE teacher's QUALIFICATION. 

Some New York Commissioners approach closely 
to this standard of examination, and applicants 
for certificates should be prepared to undergo this 
test. 

(7) Certificates should be granted at first for a 
term not exceeding a year, and a second one should 
not be granted to one unsuccessful through ill-na- 
ture, petulance, or want of tact (31). Commis- 
sioners' certificates are of three grades. Those of 
the third grade are temporary licenses, granted to 
novitiates and persons who, for lack of experience 
or ability, have need to acquire the knowledge and 
skill necessary for higher positions. They are usu- 
ally for the period of a year, and may be limited to 
a particular school (N. Y.^). Those of the second 
grade, also for one year, are granted to those who 
have shown tact in instruction and management, 
but whose youth or limited education precludes 
their teaching the higher branches. Those of the 
first grade are for three years, and are granted to 
those who have experience, skill, and acquaintance 
with the entire range of common-school studies. 

" The qualification required of a candidate is 
to teach the elements of a plain English education. 
It is not unfrequently the case that a candidate 
may be thoroughly versed in certain branches, and 
yet be void of all aptitude to impart instruction and. 
to draw out mind (hIc). The Board, in grading a 
certificate, should therefore address itself more to 
the teaching capacity of an applicant than to the 
amount of knowledge he may possess. The art of 
teaching being of so great importance, the examin- 



HOW LICENSES AKE OBTAINED. 13 

ers should value highly a habit of inquiry into the 
best modes of instruction. If the candidate has 
read and is familiar with the best treatises on peda- 
gogics, and is a subscriber to a school journal, 
these facts should add at least twenty per cent to 
the merit of an examination, and also help to de- 
termine the class and grade of a certificate" 
(Ky."). 

3. When Licenses may be Withheld. — " It is 
obvious that a teacher might have the necessary lit- 
erary acquirements and capacity to govern, and be 
a person of good moral character, and yet be an 
unfit person for the service required. A teacher 
might have personal habits or manners so offen- 
sive as to make his influence upon the scholars in- 
jurious. He might be too severe in his require- 
ments, inclined to devote too much time to the older 
or better scholars, at the expense of the younger or 
more ignorant ; a person of strong prejudices ; a 
decided partisan and propagandist in politics or re- 
ligion ; unskilful in imparting knowledge, or un- 
able to appreciate the difficulties of beginners ; and 
still be a person of sound morals, great learning, 
and undoubted capacity to govern. Yet all these 
considerations might very properly be regarded in 
considering his 'qualifications for teaching'" 
(Mass.'^). 

In this matter the law leaves very much to the 
discretion of the licensing officer, but it does not 
permit him to refuse a license out of malice or ill- 
will. It has been decided that in such a case the 
teacher may recover damages at law ; nor is he 
compelled in order to show malice on the part of 
the officer to prove personal malice or ill-will, for 
if the officer acted rashly, wickedly, or wantonly 



14 THE teacher's QUALIFICATION. 

in refusing the license, the jury may find malice 
(111.^). 

a. The Teacher may Appeal. — In New York, the 
proper appeal is to the State Superintendent. 
While such appeal will always receive attention, it 
will find very little favor with the Department un- 
less accompanied by conclusive evidence of the lit- 
erary ability of the applicant. The following ex- 
tract from a decision of Superintendent Yan Dyck 
shows the kind of answer which the Department 
is frequently compelled to make to appeals of this 
kind : 

*' The appellant appeals to the law of evidence ; 
he cannot complain if its true application leads to 
a conclusion opposed to his views and wishes. The 
controlling facts upon this question of competency 
are found in the papers and correspondence of the 
appellant himself. These, with no other evidence 
before me, would condemn him. His orthography 
is according to neither Webster nor Worcester, nor 
any other lexicographer of whom I have any knowl- 
edge, and his grammatical construction is after 
models found in no English grammar, except 
among the examples of false syntax^ of which his 
sentences afford some notable specimens. He 
must yet attend school, and give particular attention 
to orthography and the rules of the English lan- 
guage, before he will persuade this Department 
that the refusal of the Commissioner to grant him 
a certificate is founded upon any but the most satis- 
factory reasons" (N. Y.^). 

4. When Certificates may be Annulled. 
a. For Evidence against Moral Character. — As cer- 
tificates of learning and ability to teach, Normal 



ANNULLING OF CERTIFICATES. 15 

School diplomas and State certificates cannot be 
annulled, nor can the holder be subjected to fur- 
ther examination (N. Y/), except as a condition of 
contract, as by city boards (411). But diplomas, 
State certificates, and county certificates may be 
annulled by the Commissioner of the district upon 
satisfactory evidence against the moral character 
of the holder. Previous to such annulment, the 
teacher must be given reasonable notice [at least 
ten days (35)] and an opportunity to defend him- 
self (IST. Y.'^). The charges must be direct and 
positive ; if of an immoral habit, one or more in- 
stances must be specified. Though intemperance 
is a sufficient charge (N. Y.®), the annulment may 
be withheld where there is fair hope of reform 
(N. Y.^). A single profane expletive uttered out 
of school and under sudden provocation would not 
warrant annulment (N. Y."). 

h. For Deficiency in Learning or Ahility. — Com- 
missioners' certificates may also be annulled by the 
Commissioner of the district in which the holder is 
teaching, for deficiency in learning or ability. 
Thus, a Commissioner may annul a certificate 
given by himself three months before (IS^. Y."). 
The annulment may be effected without notice, if 
determined upon at a personal visit (409), but only 
when the result of personal observation (408). 
" It appears hardly proper that a highly success- 
ful teacher, long believed to be excellently quali- 
fied, should be forced to abandon her chosen pro- 
fession in which she has advantageously labored 



16 THE teacher's QUALIFICATION. 

twenty years on the strength of an opinion based 
on a fifteen minutes' observation of her school" 
(N. Y.^^). Inability to maintain order is sufficient 
cause, but specially adverse circumstances must 
receive consideration (N. Y.^^). Certificates may 
be annulled for unnecessary and cruel punishment, 
but not for choking or severe blows where resist- 
ance is encountered (409). But certificates cannot 
be annulled on account of personal ill-will tow^ard 
the teacher in the district (406, Wis.^). 

5. ApPEAI.S TO THE StATE SUPERINTENDENT. — In 

regard to this or other acts of school officers by 
which he feels himself aggrieved, the teacher may 
appeal to the State Superintendent, whose decision 
is final (N. Y."). It is a rule of the Department of 
Public Instruction that all acts and proceedings of 
school officers will be regarded as regular unless ap- 
pealed from (293). The bringing of appeals for 
light and trifiing causes will be discouraged (293). 
If vague or obscure in statement or illegible and un- 
intelligible, appeals will be disregarded (294, 298, 
299). The Superintendent will not assume juris- 
diction of cases in the nature of a prosecution for 
the recovery of a fine or penalty (293) ; nor will he 
undertake to settle disputes as to contracts and 
other matters involving money, where the issue de- 
pends upon the truth of diverse statements and 
should be settled by the courts (N. Y. ^^) ; or to en- 
force the payment of money where a decision has 
been rendered, which should be left to the reg- 
ular legal authorities. But a teacher in the State 



REMEDY AGAINST INJUSTICE. 17 

of New York, who promptly and clearly presents 
to the Department evidence of unjust treatment by 
school officers in the discharge of their duties un- 
der the school law, may be assured that the case 
will be thoroughly and impartially investigated, 
and a decision rendered without expense to him, 
from which no appeal can be taken to any court of 
law. 



PART II.-THE TEACHER'S CONTRACT. 



CHAPTER II. 



MAKING OF CONTRACT. 



In New York, school trustees exercise authority 
almost unlimited. They must hire somebody for 
twenty-eight weeks, but they may disregard the 
unanimous vote of the district as to the time of 
opening or closing school (N. Y.^^), the sex of the 
teacher (N. Y.^''), the wages paid (K. Y.^^), the 
conditions of the contract (N. Y.^^), and the indi- 
vidual selected (N. Y.'^"). The law punctiliously 
forbids a trustee to hire relatives within a given 
degree, but does not forbid him to hire himself 
(N". Y.,"^ Ind.^), Upon the last day he holds of- 
fice, a trustee may make a contract with a teacher 
which his successor must faithfully fulfil (jST. Y.'^^). 
Thus, in the case of Wait vs. Roe, recently reported 
in the Albany Law Journal, a trustee whose time 
expired in October hired a teacher in March for 
three terms, the second of which closed after the 
election of the trustee's succssor. But the con- 
tract was held to be valid for the third term. This 
law holds good in Michigan (Mich.^) and in Ver- 



PREREQUISITES TO COISTTRACT. 19 

mont (Vt.^). In Wisconsin, such a contract may 
be rejected by the district (Wis.^). (See also 
N. C.,^ Mo/). 

1. Prerequisites to Contract. — To enter into 
a legal contract to teach, the applicant must possess 
two qualifications — one positive and one negative. 

a. The applicant must hold a valid diploma, li- 
cense, or certificate, as already stated. A teacher 
•who enters school without being legally qualified 
violates his contract, and the same is not renewed 
by his obtaining a certificate subsequently, unless a 
new contract is made (410). 

5. The applicant must not be related to the trus- 
tee, or to any one of the three, as grandfather, 
father, son, grandson, brother ; or as husband of 
grandmother, mother, daughter, granddaughter, 
or sister ; or as grandmother, mother, daughter, 
granddaughter, sister ; or as wife of grandfather, 
father, son, grandson, or brother ; or as wife's 
brother or sister (jST. Y.^^). But the husband of 
the tr\istee's wife's sister, or the wife of the trus- 
tee's wife's brother, may be hired (N. Y.^^). This 
prohibition cannot be evaded by the trustee's 
delegating the hiring of teachers to his associates 
(N. Y.") or to the principal of the school (N. Y.'^'). 
But it may be waived by the approval of two 
thirds of the voters at a district meeting (144). 
This prohibition does not apply to trustees of 
Union Schools (401). 

c. The Right of Minors to Contract. — As many 
teachers are under age, the question sometimes 



20 THE teacher's CONTRACT. 

arises whether a contract with a minor is legal. 
Such a contract is binding upon the district but 
not upon the teacher, as a minor, who may decline 
to fulfil the contract, or having taught for a time 
may decline to teach longer (Wis.^). " The laxity 
of the law towards minors is intended for their ex- 
clusive benefit in protecting them from the frauds 
and deceptions which, owing to their weakness 
jmd inexperience, others of riper years might be 
enabled to practise upon them" (Wis.^). The 
teacher's wages are to be paid to him, and not to 
his parent or guardian, even though he is a minor 

(Ky.«). 

2. With whom the Contract is made. — ^Every 
district in New York has either one trustee, or 
three, or (temporarily) two. 

a. If there be but one trustee, it is only neces- 
sary that the contract be clearly understood and 
definitely expressed. In Michigan and several other 
States the law directs that the contract be in writ- 
ing ; in New York, though the law does not de- 
mand that it be written, the Department recom- 
mends it (141), and half the disagreements arising 
between teachers and trustees would be prevented 
by it (N. Y.^^). A suitable form for such a con- 
tract is given on pages |^, ". 

&. If there be three trustees, the law explicitly 
requires that the contract be made by a majority ; 
and at ■ a meeting, of which all three have been 
notified (134, 135, 397,398, Penn./ 111.''). The 
consent of the three trustees separately makes no 



MAKING OF CONTRACT. 21 

contract (397). A contract made by two trustees 
in the absence of the third from the district may 
be annulled at any time by a majority of the three 
(400). But a contract may be made by two trustees 
when authorized by the third (N. Y.^®), or by one 
trustee when authorized to act as agent for the 
three (N. Y.^^). A contract made by two trustees 
without consulting the third may be ratified at a 
subsequent meeting (400) ; and a tacit concurrence 
of the third trustee (N. Y.^"), or even of two trus- 
tees where the bargain is made with the third in 
good faith (398, 445), ratifies a fulfilled contract. 

c. Where the district has two trustees, in its tran- 
sition from three trustees to one, the contract 
should be made at a meeting of both. But when 
one gives to the other due notice of a meeting 
which the other neglects to attend, a contract of 
the one with a teacher satisfactory to the inhabi- 
tants of the district may be approved (400). 



22 THE teacher's contract. 



CHAPTER III. 

CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT. 

Contracts should be specific upon three points : 

1. Duration. — This may be either conditional 
or definite. 

a. If hired ' ' during the satisfaction of the dis- 
trict, ' ' the teacher may be dismissed unless he can 
prove that satisfaction exists (N. Y.,^^ K.^). But 
if hired for one month, to continue if satisfactory, 
and not discharged at the end of the month, he 
cannot be subsequently disharged without other 
cause (404). 

h. Contracts may be made for a certain number 
of months, weeks, or days ; though the Depart- 
ment recommends that it be by the week (141). 
The month is regarded as a calendar month ; 
*' from a given day in one month to the same day 
in the following month" (403). This supplants 
that decision of the Department dated April 15th, 
1854 (N. Y.^^), which made twenty-four full days, 
exclusive of holidays, constitute the month. In 
Maine, four weeks of five and one half days each 
constitute the month ; in New Jersey, Ohio, Mich- 
igan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, California, and 
other States, four weeks of five school-days each 
constitute a month. In Pennsylvania, Illinois, and 
Kentucky twenty-two school-days make a legal 
month. 



CONDITIONS OP CONTRACT. 23 

c. Holidays. — Unless otherwise specified, the 
contract requires no school upon Saturdays, Sun- 
days, January 1st, February 23d, May 30th, July 
4th, December 25th, any general election day, or 
any day appointed by the Governor or President 
for thanksgiving, fasting, prayer, or other religious 
observance (N. Y.^^). For these days no deduction 
from wages is to be made. But if the teacher 
keeps the school open on a holiday, he is not en- 
titled to have such day's service counted in lieu of 
another day not a holiday, except by agreement 
with the trustees (402). 

d. Teachers^ Institute. — In allotting school money, 
the statute allows that a deficiency of not more than 
three weeks in the twenty-eight be excused when 
such deficiency was caused by the attendance of 
the teacher at an institute during his term ; and 
decisions of the State Superintendent later than 
that of Superintendent Rice (402) require that 
wages for such time spent at an institute shall be 
paid to the teacher by the trustees. In a letter to 
Commissioner Cottrell, of Allegany County, dated 
February 23d, 1876, State Superintendent Gilmour 
thus decides this matter : 



" A teacher is entitled to pay for the time spent 
in attending a regular session of the county insti- 
tute, even though the trustee does not consent to 
such attendance. A trustee is not authorized to 
give the teacher the time spent by the latter in at- 
tending a voluntary teachers' association. With 
the consent of the trustee, a teacher may make 



24 THE teacher's contbact. 

up ' lost*time, ' by teaching on Saturdays or legal 
holidays." 



So in California, ' ' when the institute is held 
during the time that teachers are employed in teach- 
ing, their pay must not be diminished by reason of 
their attendance" (Cal.^). 

2. The Teacher's Duties. — To be entitled to 
the fulfilment of the contract, the teacher must 
fulfil tliese obligations : 

a. To Keep a Successful School. — What is im- 
plied in this phrase has already been indicated. 

5. To Keep School Open every Sclwol-day. — Absence 
for a single day without consent of trustees annuls 
the contract (406), even though the consent of one 
of three trustees has been obtained (N. Y.^'^). 
Upon stormy days, when no pupils come during 
the first hour, the teacher may go home, but if a 
single pupil comes the teacher should devote to 
that pupil the whole six hours (Ky.^- A. teacher 
voluntarily leaving before the close of the term, 
though at the request of the trustees, can recover 
wages only for time taught (403). In Vermont, a 
teacher who contracts to teach for a definite term 
and leaves the school without just cause cannot 
sustain an action for such services as were rendered 
(Yt.^^). A teacher finding the school-house locked 
against him, and leaving without application to 
the trustees, abandons the contract (405). But a 
teacher leaving his school because not sustained by 
the trustees in the enforcement of reasonable rules 



CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT. 25 

is entitled to wages for the time taught (405). A 
teacher who was hired for three months had taught 
six weeks. The district became dissatisfied, only 
one or two scholars attended, the stove-legs and 
pipe were carried from the school-room, and the 
teacher had to close school. By request of the 
committee, he held himself ready to complete the 
term, but the committee did not put the building 
in order. He recovered wages fpr the full term 
(111."). 

c. To Instruct all Pupils Admitted. — The question 
sometimes arises whether the teacher must instruct 
scholars of more or less than school age, or from 
outside the district. The answer is plain. The 
trustees have sole authority to admit pupils or to 
exclude them, and the teacher must instruct such 
pupils as they receive (Wis.''). 

d. To fill the blanks in the School Register, to 
preserve it, to verify its correctness by oath, and 
to deliver it to the district clerk. If the Register 
be lost by carelessness, the teacher is entitled to 
no paj'^ for his services, and from this duty the trus- 
tees have no right to excuse him (Mass. , ^ N. H. , ^ 
Vt.,* etc.), but may draw pay if he can make oath 
that it was correctly kept, and lost or stolen 
through no fault of his (411). Trustees may per- 
mit a teacher to fill up the blanks afterward, if 
the district do not thereby lose its school money 
(K. Y.^"). 

e. Janitor Worh — ^Any other duties than these 
imposed upon the teacher, such as sweeping the 



26 THE teacher's contract. 

school-house, must be expressly stated in making 
the contract. The teacher cannot be compelled to 
do janitor's work on the ground of local custom 
(Ind.^^). " A teacher who contracts simply to teach 
a school for a given number of months, for a given 
sum, is under no obligation to cut or carry in the 
fuel, sweep the school-house, or make the fires. 
It is as much the duty of the Board to have these 
things done (by the teachers and pupils if they 
'Dolunteer to do them, or by paying for them other- 
wise) as it is to furnish a broom or a stove. The 
Board has no power to compel, by rule, either 
teacher or pupils to do these things. But there 
will never be any trouble over this question except 
where there is outside meddlesomeness and internal 
contrariness" (Mo.^). " In common district schools 
such duties are, it is true, generally attended to 
voluntarily by the teachers and larger scholars, 
and it is an economical and commendable custom. 
But it must be voluntary ; it is not one of those 
customs to which long acquiescence has given the 
force of law" (Ky.'). The trustees cannot deduct 
from the teacher's wages the sura they have paid 
for care of the school-house (N. Y.^^). 

3. The Amount and Manner of Payment. — 
Contracts by the week are the most definitely un- 
derstood, and payment once in four weeks is desir- 
able when it can be made convenient. 

Payment must always be made in cash. Debts 
or notes due third parties, even the trustees, can- 
not be offset against the teacher's wages (402). 



CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT. 27 

Even when the teacher is a minor, the payment 
must be made to him, and not to his parent or 
guardian (Ky/). 

a. How to Enforce Payment. — In case the trustees 
neglect or refuse to pay the wages due, after the 
public money has been received by the supervisor, 
they may be sued as a quasi corporation, possessing 
power in this case and for this purpose to bind 
their district, and to create a corporate liability 
which will attach to their successors in their of- 
ficial capacity (N. Y.^^) A promissory note made to 
a teacher for wages earned in the employment of 
the district is within the scope of this power, and 
may be safely received and negotiated by the 
teacher (N. Y."). 



28 THE teacher's contract. 



CHAPTER IV. 

BREAKING OF CONTRACT. 

A TEACHER once employed by trustees cannot 
be dismissed during the time for which he was to 
continue, without some violation of the contract 
upon his part (R. 142). But trustees may dismiss 
the teacher : — 

1. If he close the school upon any school-day 
(see page 24). 

2. If his certificate be annulled, even though the 
annulment be j)lainly illegal and an appeal be 
made to the State Department (see page 6). 

3. If they are convinced that he is unfit for the 
place through incompetence or immorality. 

a. Usage in Different States. — ^Pennsylvania, Il- 
linois, and Kansas give as causes for dismissal : 
incompetency, cruelty, negligence, or immorality. 
Ohio : inefficiency, neglect of duty, immorality 
or improper conduct. Indiana : incompetency, 
immorality, cruelty, or general neglect of the busi- 
ness of the school. Iowa : incompetency, partial- 
ity, or dereliction in the discharge of his duties. 
Wisconsin : want of sufficient learning, ability to 
teach, capacity to govern and arrange the school, 
or of good moral character. In Maine, the commit- 
tee may dismiss a teacher ' ' who is found incapa- 
ble or unfit to teach, or whose services they deem 
unprofitable to the school." In Massachusetts the 



BREAKING OF CONTRACT. 29 

committee may dismiss any teacher " whenever 
they think proper" (Mass/). In most States mere 
dissatisfaction of scholars and parents is no cause 
for dismissal (Vt/). In Kentucky the causes given 
are incompetency, neglect of duty, immoral con- 
duct, unacceptdbility, or other disqualification 
(Ky. ^) ; but it is repeatedly affirmed that the jyt^efer- 
ence of a majority of the patrons, even if expressed 
in a written memorial, is not " unacceptability" in 
the meaning of the law, but that specific grounds 
must be stated and made clear icTiy a teacher is unac- 
ceptable ; that a teacher should not be displaced 
except on the clearest proof and after thorough in- 
vestigation ; and that a teacher wronged in this 
respect might seek redress for damages (Ky/). 

&. Incompetence must de Marhed. — Incompetence 
should be marked to justify trustees in this action. 
One decision of the State Department upon an ap- 
peal against dismissal reads thus : " The incom- 
petence of the appellant I do not think so conclu- 
sively proved as to sustain the presumption of a 
non fulfilment of contract by him, though from the 
testimony on both sides I am disposed to rate him 
considerably below the grade of a first-class teacher. 
Still, the trustees can hardly expect to get all the 
manly and scholarly virtues for $15 a month :" and 
the appeal was sustained (404). 

For inflicting unjustifiably severe punishment 
upon pu]oils for comparatively slight offences, the 
teacher should be discharged as either incompetent 



30 TECE teacher's CONTRACT. 

to discharge his duties properly as a teacher, or as 
wilfully regardless of them (N. Y.^''). 

c. A Case in Rhode Island. — Extracts from two 
decisions by State Superintendents illustrate clearly 
the law upon this subject : 

' ' The case then must turn on the questions 
whether or not Smith did comply with the regula- 
tions of the school-committee, and whether he did 
really properly instruct and govern his school. 
. . . These facts appear clearly to be proved : 
. . . That there was a great amount of noise 
and confusion in the school-room ; that scholars 
were allowed to whisper ; that the room was not 
well ventilated, and that the modes of punishment 
were not proper ; all of which were in direct viola- 
tion of the regulations for schools posted by the 
committee on the wall of the school-room ; and fur- 
ther, that Smith himself was boisterous and rough 
in his manner, and not only neglected to give in- 
formation and assistance to his scholars when asked, 
but that he allowed the scholars to miscall or mis- 
pronounce words in their reading lessons without 
correction ; and, in general, that the scholars did 
not improve, and were merely losing their time and 
making a waste of the public money. These being 
the facts in the case, . . . the school commit- 
tee of Smithlield only discharged the duty imposed 
upon them by the law and by their oath of office, 
and their act ought to be sustained " (R. I.^). 

d. A Case in New York. — " The annulment of the 
license dissolves all contracts entered into by vir- 
tue of its sanctions. But can the fulfilment of a 
contract be avoided only in this way ? Until the 
license is revoked, are the trustees bound to retain 
a teacher obnoxious to the district through immor- 
ality, ignorance, or inefficiency ? The affirmative 



BREAKESTG OF CONTRACT. 31 

of this is a too popular fallacy. The admission of 
it would be subversive of the principles already 
enunciated as pertaining to the essential nature of 
contracts. It cannot be supposed that in case a 
charge of gross immorality, specifically urged, car- 
rying w^ith it a strong presumption of its truth, 
were brought against a teacher the trustees must 
wait for the tedious delay of a formal hearing in 
the case before a Commissioner, and abide the event 
which may be determined through insufficiency of 
evidence, while the moral conviction of the truth 
of the charges preferred is still strong and abiding. 
The presence among pupils of a teacher against 
whom such suspicions should rest, must, of itself, 
from the suggestions to which it would give rise, 
promote conditions of mind opposed to the develo^^- 
ment of virtue and purity of heart. 

' ' This consideration alone would justify the trus- 
tees in a summary dismissal of the teacher. This, 
to be sure, is an extreme case, but it is sufficient 
to illustrate and to establish the principle ad- 
vanced, that the trustees maybe justified in the dis- 
charge of a teacher before the close of the term 
specified in his contract. In determining what con- 
stitutes such justification, it is difficult, not to say 
impossible, to establish uniform rules. 

' ' The decision as to the propriety of the act, and 
the power to perform the act, alike rest with the 
trustees. For an abuse of their discretion, or an 
unwarrantable exercise of their authority, they are 
of course responsible. On complaint of the party 
sustaining what he considers a grievance or wrong, 
the issue becomes one of fact, and it devolves upon 
the trustees to show by evidence that the teacher 
lacked the character, the ability, or the will essen- 
tial to a proper discharge of his duties, and that 
he failed thus to fulfil the obviously implied con- 
ditions of his contract. The mere fact of dissatis- 



32 THE teacher's contract. 

faction on their part, or that of the inhabitants, is 
not sufficient to justify their discharge of a teacher 
employed for a definite period. The tribunal be- 
fore whom the action is brought, as the court, a 
jury, or this Department, are the constituted judges 
of fact, and will determine, from the evidence pre- 
sented, whether the incompetence of the teacher, 
as resulting from ignorance or indifference, is fully 
proved, and hence his discharge upon the ground 
of a violated contract clearly justified. 

" In the case here presented, the trustees offer 
evidence bearing upon the management and general 
deportment of the appellant in the school-room, 
and his intercourse with his pupils, tending to 
show disregard to the proprieties and courtesies in- 
cident to his position. Trijiing and irrelevant con- 
versation, oft indulged and long continued with the pu- 
jnls in school hours /prying and impertinent questions 
in regard to domestic affairs ; low, and at the least 
suggesti'vely vulgar, remarks to the older female pupils ; 
rude, l)oisterous, and harsh language, as a means of or 
sid)stitute for discipline, are alleged and proved by 
the testimony of his pupils, with a circumstantial 
minuteness that requires emphatic denial or plausi- 
able explanation to invalidate or palliate. The ap- 
pellant rests with a vague declaration concerning 
the colorable nature of the testimony, and with af- 
fidavits relative to the satisfaction uniformly attend- 
ing his engagements as a teacher heretofore in the 
same vicinity. 

" These are insufficient to rebut the presumption 
raised by the evidence submitted by the trustees, 
that they were justified in their dismissal of the 
appellant. They have raised that presumption 
strongly in their favor, and the appellant has failed 
to meet the issue. It is proper and just to remark, 
that the justification of the trustees does not pro- 
ceed from any alleged or proved inability or immor- 



BREAKING OP CONTRACT. 33 

ality of the appellant ; his literary qualifications and 
his moral character stand unimpeached, and, it is 
to be hoped, unimpeachable. But his inefficiency 
appears to have been the result of gross negligence 
and indifference — a debilitated will, rather than of 
inherent depravity or defective scholarship, a fault 
which It is earnestly hoped the wholesome practical 
discipline of this experience will serve to eradicate. 
" Under the view of the case as above presented, 
therefore, I must decline to interfere with the ac- 
tion of the trustees, and hold that they have pre- 
sented a sufiicient justification therefor" (N. Y.^''). 

4. The Teacher's Defence. — A teacher feel- 
ing aggrieved by the action of the trustees in dis- 
charging him may either appeal to the State Su- 
perintendent, or sue them for his wages, and thus 
compel them to show cause for his dismissal, and 
to support their allegations by adequate proof 
(Ky.^°). 

" After a teacher has obtained a certificate, been 
employed, and entered upon his duty, he should 
not be discharged without the clearest proof of his 
incompetency or palpable neglect of duty, in de- 
fault of which on the part of the trustees inferior 
courts should find for the teacher. The testimony 
of the pupils as to the teacher's fidelity is to be 
received with much caution, and occasional or tri- 
fling errors in recitation, or inaccuracies in scholar- 
ship, or casual laxity in discipline, or tardiness of 
action, or failure to secure the rapid advancement 
of particular scholars — ^these things, whether al' 
leged or real, are inconsequential when weighed 
against the favorable presumption warranted by 
the possession of a legal certificate, and the evi- 
dence of general success and fidelity" (111.^^). 



PAKT III.-THE TEACHER'S AUTHORITY. 



CHAPTER y. 

ABSENCE AND TARDINESS. 

The general management of the school devolves 
by law upon the trustees, and in large towns is 
commonly regulated by their distinct orders. But 
in smaller districts, the trustees being often incom- 
petent or indifferent, much of this authority is in- 
trusted to the teacher or assumed by him. Indeed, 
many things must necessarily be left to his discre- 
tion. " The law prescribes the branches to be 
taught, and the Board may add others ; but neither 
the law nor the Board prescribes the precise methods 
of teaching and handling classes. The teacher 
may require, for instance, that the class in grammar 
shall compose as well as analyze ; that a class in 
geography shall draw maps as well as recite from 
the book ; work examples on the blackboard as 
well as on the slate. The Board makes general 
rules. The teacher may and must have some rules 
to kee]3 order, and may enforce them, although the 
board makes no rules at all — which is usually the 
case. "Where the board makes rules, the teacher 
must carry them out; but from the nature of the 
case, and entirely apart from what the Board does, ' 



ABSENCE AKD TARDINESS. 35 

he must govern the school, and to this end enforce 
obedience : it being understood, of course, that he 
is not unreasonable in his requirements" (Wis.^^). 

Yet it must never be forgotten that in regard to 
the Horn's of School, the Course of Study, the 
Adoption of Text-Books, the General Kegulations, 
and the Expulsion of Pupils, the action of tlie 
teacher has no legal force until formally endorsed 
by the trustees. However unbounded the confi- 
dence placed in him, a wise teacher will secure the 
sanction of the trustees before he announces his own 
course as to these questions. 

1. The Houks of School. — a. Usage. — The 
hours of school are usually six, three in the morn- 
ing and three in the afternoon, with recesses in the 
middle of each session of ten minutes for the boys 
and ten minutes for the girls. Obvious hygienic 
requirements make recesses for each sex indispensa- 
ble where the playgrounds are not wholly distinct. 
It is becoming customary to dismiss primary classes 
before the close of each session, and is usually ad- 
visable. In California, " no school must be contin- 
ued in session more than six hours a day ; and no 
pupil under eight years of age must be kept in 
school more than four hours a day" (Cal.^). In 
Kentucky, the youngest class cannot be confined 
more than three hours a day (Ky.^). But in these 
matters the teacher is expected to follow the usage 
of the district, unless authorized by the trustees to 
make changes. It has even been held in Wisconsin 
that " the school-day is fixed by a custom so uni- 



36 THE teacher's authority. 

versal and well understood as to have almost the 
force of law, at six hours. If a district were to de- 
part from this rule, it is doubtful if it would be en- 
titled to draw school money. When the law says 
* 100 days shall be understood to constitute the five 
months required, ' it must be understood to mean 
100 school-days of six hours each, and not 150 days 
of four hours each" (Wis.^^). In New York, how- 
ever, this matter is wholly in the hands of the trus- 
tees, and many schools have but one session of five 
hours, instead of two of three hours each. 

1). Instruction in Outside Branches. — In Kentucky, 
teachers are allowed, with the consent of the trus- 
tees, to give instruction in branches outside of the 
regular course of study during school hours, and to 
charge tuition therefor (Ky."). This is an unusual 
and an unwise privilege, as it tempts the teacher to 
neglect the important branches for those which may 
be superinduced but should never be substituted. 

c. Regularity and Punctuality Compulsory. — In 
regard to the hours of school and the regularity of 
attendance, recent decisions show that rules estab- 
lished by the trustees are absolute and final. The 
Supreme Court of New York decides that the rule 
requiring regular and prompt attendance is for tlie 
good of the pupil. It also says that the good of 
the whole school cannot be sacrificed for the advan- 
tage of one puj)il who happens to have an unrea- 
sonable father ; and as the law now is, no other 
means can be devised for enforcing regular and 
prompt attendance than the penalty of expulsion 



ABSENCE AND TAKDDiTESS. 37 

(N". Y.^®). In Massachusetts, the committee have 
' ' the power of determining what pupils shall te re~ 
ceived and what pupils rejected. The committee 
may, for good cause, determine that some shall not 
be received ; as, for instance, if infected with any 
contagious disease, or if the pupil or parent shall 
refuse to comply with regulations necessary to the 
discipline and good management of the school ' ' 
(Mass. "). (See also Me. , ^ N. Y. , ^'^ Yt. , « la. ^) 

In 1853, the New York State Superintendent de- 
cided that ' ' teachers have the right to close the 
doors of their school-rooms against all pupils who 
may claim admission more than fifteen minutes af- 
ter the time of opening the school " (N.Y.^"). But 
more recently the State Superintendent has ruled 
that the teacher should not keep tardy pupils in 
the entry, especially in cold weather (N. Y.*^). 

In 1875 the Board of Education of Hornellsville, 
N. Y. , adopted a rule that in every case of absence 
of a pupil for more than five days during any term 
for any other cause than sickness or death in the 
family or religious observance, the absentee shall 
be suspended until the beginning of the next term. 
Its legality being questioned, the State Superinten- 
dent replied : 

" Under the provisions of the law cited in your 
letter of the 19th inst., your Board of Education 
undoubtedly possesses the power to suspend pupils 
from school for causes which seem to them to merit 
such treatment. In my judgment, however, it 
would be unwise to enforce strictly the rule re- 
ferred to in your letter. The object and intention 



38 THE teacher's authority. 

of the law is to get pupils into the schools — not to 
keep them out." 

(a) Exercises Outside the School Building. — In 1874, 
two girls in the Dover (N. H.) High School refused 
to attend examination and graduation in the City 
Hall on the ground that it was too public. The 
principal suspended them. Their parents applied 
to Judge Doe for an injunction against the suspen- 
sion, and the case was referred to the full bench 
at Concord. The application was denied, on the 
ground that the subject-matter was within the ju- 
risdiction and discretion of the school authorities. 

(/3) Catholic Holidays. — In 1875, certain Catholic 
children of Brattleboro were expelled from the 
schools for attending Mass on the holy day of Cor- 
pus Christi, though their pastor, Father Lane, had 
asked permission from the committee for their non- 
attendance at school that morning. Judge Bar- 
rett, of the Supreme Court, decided that the com- 
mittee were legally justified in acting as they did ; 
and went on to show that school-committees are 
supreme in their rights over parents ; that a citizen 
has no more right to disregard the rules made by 
a school-committee than he has to defy the law by 
which the committee was empowered. 

(7) The Jeicish Sablyath. — In 1875, a Jewish girl 
was expelled from the Sherwin School, Boston, for 
not attending the Saturday sessions. What fol- 
lowed is told thus : 

" The father sent a petition to the Board. That 
petition was referred to the Sherwin committee. 



ABSENCE AND TARDINESS. 39 



They heard the father's statement. He explained 
why he had kept the child from the school, and 
the position of the Israelites in respect to Saturday, 
their Sabbath. He asked that he might be per- 
mitted to send his child to school five days in the 
week, keeping her from school every Saturday. 
It was explained to him why the committee could 
not officially make such an exceptional arrange- 
ment. They respected, however, the father's 
scruples in regard to work on the Sabbath, and ■ 
agreed that the child might be excused on Satur- 
days from what he regarded as ' manual labor ' — 
writing, ciphering, and the like. The father 
seemed satisfied with the action of the committee ; 
and his child has ever since been a regular attend- 
ant upon the school. ' ' 

(6) A Caution, — It is therefore safe to consider 
this the prevailing law, at least in the Eastern 
States. But we believe it to be thoroughly unjust, 
and likely to work our school system serious injury. 
In this last case, we have intolerance enforcing 
hypocrisy. The child's religion either does forbid 
her to work on the Sabbath, or it does not. If it 
does not, there is no reason why she should 
' ' write, cipher, and the like, ' ' as well as the rest. 
If it does, then she should not attend school at all. 
Her presence, under these conditions, teaches 
every Christian pupil in school that one's lesson 
may be studied or any mental labor done on Sun- 
day which does not involve " writing, ciphering, 
and the like." 

Opposing Decisions. — Moreover, there are decisions 
on record which conflict with those we have cited. 



40 THE teacher's AUTHORITY. 

The Supreme Court of Illinois has decided that 
" school-directors can expel pupils only for dis- 
obedient, refractory, or incorrigibly bad conduct, 
after all other means have failed. Expulsion is 
not designed as a means of punishment" (lU.^). 
This decision is quoted and endorsed by the State 
Superintendent of Iowa (la.^). Judge Higbee, of 
the Fulton County (111.) Circuit Court, decided that 
neither school-teachers nor school-directors can 
expel a child from the public schools for absence. 
Such expulsion he holds to be arbitrary, unjust, 
and unlawful. He assigns but one cause for ex- 
pulsion, and that is " incorrigibly bad conduct" 
(111.®). In Wisconsin, the Superintendent decides 
that ' ' to lock the door against tardy pupils, say at 
ten o'clock, is of doubtful propriety. The school- 
house is a public place. The tardiness may not be 
the fault of the child. It might be a serious dis- 
comfort to the child to be turned back home. Let 
the school be made attractive" (Wis.^°). And 
again : ' ' Tardiness is, of course, a great annoy- 
ance. It is difficult to say how far the courts 
would sustain rules excluding pupils from school 
for being late. It is doubtful whether it is good 
policy to turn tardy pupils into the street, perhaps 
to get into mischief ; perhaps to suffer from cold, 
waiting outside ; certainly to lose more time. 
Persuasion, attractive exercises in the morning, an 
attractive school, privation of recess, final degra- 
dation to a lower class if all fails, would perhaps 
be better remedies" (Wis.^). 



CONTROL OF CHILD'S STUDIES. 41 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONTROL OF THE CHILD'S STUDIES. 

1. Usually Attributed to the Trustees. — In 
New York, the power not only of selecting the 
branches to be taught in school, but also of requiring 
the pupils to pursue them, has been explicitly at- 
tributed to the teacher, subject to the control of 
the trustees. Thus composition maybe required of 
all (N. Y.*^), and a girl may be expelled for refus- 
ing to declaim, even though her father has con- 
scientious scruples against females' speaking in 
public (K. Y.''^). In November, 1871, Superinten- 
dent Clark, of Defiance, Ohio, suspended the son 
of J. J. Sewell, for persistent failure to have at the 
proper time his rhetorical exercises. The father 
brought suit for $1000 damages. On appeal to 
the Supreme Court, under § 54 of the act of May 
1st, 1873, the decision of the lower court was af- 
firmed that there was no cause of action, and the 
defendant was allowed the costs of prosecution 
(Ohio^). But this power should be exercised with 
moderation ; for though the courts of other States 
have, in many instances, sustained this view of 
the teacher's authority (Me.,* Yt.,'' Mo.,' Wis.,^ 
Ky. , '^' " Mass. ®), yet the Supreme Court of "Wisconsin 
has recently decided that parents have the privi- 
lege of limiting and naming the studies their chil- 



42 THE teacher's authority. 

dren shall pursue in the public schools, providing 
they designate such studies as are there taught. 

2. The Wisconsin Decision. — a. The Case. — 
The case was as follows : 

" Upon the 18th of December, 1872, Annie Mor- 
row, a qualified teacher under a contract with the 
District School Board, commenced teaching a dis- 
trict school in Grant County. James Wood, an in- 
habitant of the district, sent his son, a boy about 
twelve years of age, to the school. The defendant 
wished his boy to study orthography, reading, writ- 
ing, and also wished him to give particular atten- 
tion to the subject of arithmetic, for very satisfac- 
tory reasons which he gave on trial. In addition 
to these studies the plaintiff at once required the 
child to also study geography, and took pains to 
aid him in getting a book for the purpose. The 
father, on being informed of this, told the boy not 
to study geography, but to attend to his other 
studies, and the teacher was properly and fully 
advised of this wish of the parent, and also knew 
that the boy had been forbidden by his parent 
from taking that study at that time. But claim- 
ing and insisting that she had the right to direct 
and control the boy in respect to his studies, even 
as against his father's wishes, she commanded him 
to take his geography and get his lesson. And 
when the boy refused to obey her and did as he 
was directed by his father, she resorted to force to 
compel obedience. All this occurred in the first 
week of school Under the circum- 
stances, tlie plaintiff had no right to punish the 
boy for obedience to the commands of his father 
in respect to the study of geography. She entire- 
ly exceeded any authority which the law gave her, 
and the assault upon the child was unjustifiable" 
(Wis.^"). 



CONTROL, OF CHILD'S STUDIES. 43 

1). Opinions. — The following expressions of opin- 
ion by leading educators will be found of interest. 

Assistant Superintendent J. B. Pradt, of Wiscon- 
sin, says : 

"I should have held with the Circuit Court, 
that the teacher, not as an individual, but as the 
representative of the school authorities, is justified 
in requiring the pupil to attend to the usual studies 
of his class, and that if exemption is granted in 
any special case, it should be, not at the demand of 
the parent as a right, but with the consent of the 

Board But if the teacher, who very 

likely was young and inexperienced, had been 
thoughtful enough to refer the matter to the Board, 
and the Board had sustained the position that all 
pupils must take all the studies of the class un- 
less exempted on request of the parent, as a favor, 
the question of paramount authority would have 
been raised in a more satisfactory way, and the 
judgment of the higher court would have covered 
a broader ground " (Wis,"), 

Superintendent J. P. Wickersham, of Pennsyl- 
vania, prefaces a report of the decision with this re- 
mark : 

" We are not quite sure that the decision would 
be considered good law in Pennsylvania, and yet 
it seems to rest on ground of considerable 
strength. ' ' 

He also quotes these conclusions of Superinten- 
dent Bateman, of Illinois : 

" (1) Pupils can study no branch which is not 

in the course prescribed by the directors (trustees). 

" (2) Pupils can study no branch of such pre- 



44 THE teacher's authority. 

scribed course for which they are not prepared, 
of which preparation the teachers and directors 
shall judge. 

' ' (3) Pupils shall study the particular branches 
of the prescribed course which the teachers, with 
consent of the directors, shall direct, unless hon- 
est objection is made by the parents. 

" (4) If objection is made in good faith, parents 
shall be allowed to select from the particular 
branches of the prescribed course for which their 
children are fitted those which they wish them 
to study ; and for the exercise of such right of 
choice the children shall not be liable to suspen- 
sion or expulsion." 

This fourth conclusion is pronounced sound by 
Superintendents Conant, of Vermont ; Briggs, of 
Michigan ; Etter, of Illinois ; and Burt, of Minne- 
sota. It is considered unsound by Superinten- 
dents Kiddle, of New York City ; Philbrick, of 
Boston ; Harris, of St. Louis ; Stockwell, of Rhode 
Island ; Newell, of Maryland ; Smart (C. S.), of 
Ohio ; Smart (J. S.), of Indiana ; Henderson, of 
Kentucky ; and Trousdale, of Tennessee. Suj)er- 
intendents Apgar, of New Jersey, and Abernethy, 
of Iowa, state that in these States the law explicitly 
confers all right in this matter upon Boards of 
Education. Letters from these gentlemen appeared 
in full in the School Bulletin for June, 1875, and in 
the first edition of this volume. 

c. Legal Decisions. — In Iowa it is decided : " That 
the father has the right to the care and the cus- 
tody of his minor children, and to superintend 
their education and nurture, is a proposition that 



CONTROL OF CHILD 's STUDIES. 45 

does not admit of reasonable doubt" (la.^). In 
Illinois, a boy had omitted, on account of ill- 
health, the study of English grammar. On appli- 
cation he was admitted to a high school. The 
teachers of the school discovered that he was de- 
ficient in this study, and they required him to pass 
an examination for it. Not complying, he was ex- 
pelled. A mandamus was issued to compel the 
trustees to admit him again. The trustees took 
an appeal, and the Supreme Court afiirmed the de- 
cision of the lower court (111.^). In the same State, 
a young lady was expelled from a public school 
because, under the direction of her parents, she re- 
fused to study book-keeping. She instituted an 
action of trespass against the directors and princi- 
pal of the school, and on trial in the court below 
the jury found a verdict in her favor, and assessed 
the damages at |136. On appeal it was afiirmed 
by the court that " a statute which enumerates the 
branches that teachers shall be qualified to teach, 
gives all the children in the State the right to be 
instructed in those branches. But neither teach- 
ers nor directors have power to compel pupils to 
study other branches, nor to expel a pupil for refus- 
ing to study them" (111.*^). 

d. A Late Decision in New Yorh. — Even in New 
York a test case was recently decided in accord- 
ance with the rulings just given. Carl Hallet, a 
pupil in the Union Free School at Riverhead, 
refused to declaim, following in the matter his 
father s directions. He was expelled from school, 



46 THE teacher's authority. 

and action was brought against the principal and 
Board of Education before the Supreme Court, 
April 26th, 1877. In his charge to the jury, C. E. 
Pratt, Justice, spoke as follows : 

" In my private opinion this requirement upon 
the part of these trustees and of this teacher was 
a perfectly reasonable one, and one which they 
should have been permitted to enforce. I may say 
further, and I think you will all agree with me, 
that it is utterly useless to attempt to conduct a 
public school unless there is secured by certain 
rules and regulations a thorough discipline ; and 
more particularly is it necessary that it should be 
understood by those who partake of the benefits of 
the system, that the rules, whatever they may be, 
are to be impartially and invariably enforced. 

' ' In thus stating my private opinion, however, I 
would impress upon your minds the fact that it is 
immaterial what may be your or my personal feel- 
ing upon any matter of this kind. We are bound 
to accept the law as we find it. If the law is wrong 
it is not for you to rectify it. There is no safety in 
the administration of justice unless the laws are 
strictly carried out. In this case I am confident 
there are members upon this, jury who, controlled as 
they are by feelings of regard for the common- 
school system, and knowing as they do the necessity 
of upholding the hands of those who have the 
schools in charge, would hesitate for a long time 
before rendering any verdict against the defend- 
ants, however clear the law might be, if any excuse 
could be found which would satisfy their con- 
sciences in thus withholding it. Hence, in order 
that this question may be determined, I propose to 
relieve you from any responsibility in deciding the 
main issues in this case by saying to you that you 
must find a verdict for the plaintiff ; and the only 



CONTROL OF CHLLD's STUDIES. 47 

question which I propose lo submit to you is that 
of damages. And while stating to you, as I have 
done, my private opinion and feeling upon this sub- 
ject, I must at the same time say, that from read- 
ing the decisions of courts in other States upon 
laws the provisions of which are similar to those 
under which this school in question was established 
and is regulated, I feel constrained to say that tliere 
must, upon the facts of this case, be technically a 
verdict for the plaintiff. 

' ' In explanation it is perhaps proper that I 
should state that the rule of law is that this 
board of trustees may- designate a course of study, 
within the authority delegated to them by stat- 
ute, and that they may also prescribe the text- 
books to be used in pursuing this course of study. 
And you see the necessity of this. It would 
be utterly impossible to conduct any school if 
every parent should undertake to dictate as to the 
character of the text-book to be used by the 
scholar. Take a school of two or three hundred 
scholars and as many different kinds of text- 
books, and you would have about as many classes 
as students ; and hence the school could not be 
classified at all, and the great object in view, that 
is, the public benefit which is to be obtained from 
the grouping together of children and educating 
them at the public expense — would be utterly lost. 
The law has therefore provided that these trustees 
shall have a wide discretion in making rules, not 
only for the government and discipline of the school 
while it is in session, but also that they may regu- 
late the various classifications and gradations, and 
designate the text-books that shall be used in the 
school. 

' ' But here comes the question whether, in ad- 
dition to the course of study prescribed by statute, 
the trustees shall be permitted to say that a child 



48 THE teacher's authority. 

shall pursue a study which the parent, who is the 
guardian and has the control, nurture, and educa- 
tion of the child, desires that the child shall not 
pursue. I am constrained to Tiold the law to de that 
iDhere there is an irreconcilable difference of opinion 
between the teacher, or the board of trustees, and the 
parent, in regard to a study which is not included 
among those that the trustees are empowered to pre- 
serve, the will of the pa/rent must control. I think 
that the law has not taken away the natural right 
of the parent to control the education of the child 
in that regard ; and the parent is presumed to 
know the capacity, the temperament, and the quali- 
fications of the child, and his ability to take any 
particular study or not. When the teacher or the 
trustees undertake to say that a child shall pursue 
a particular study which is not included in the stat- 
utory list of studies I think they exceed their au- 
thority. And when that is made the basis of an 
attempt to deprive the child of its right to attend 
school, and enjoy the benefits which arise from the 
laying of a common burden upon the community, 
I hold that they are liable, technically liable, for 
the act. Of course the parent cannot dictate that 
the child shall take a study which is not included 
in the regular, prescribed list. This duty, this ob- 
ligation, its reciprocal. The parent cannot say that 
the child shall study any branch not prescribed, 
nor can the school authorities insist that the child 
shall pursue a study not in the prescribed list 
against the will of the parent." 

3. Modern Tendency of Opinion. — It will be 
observed that this decision applies only to studies 
not prescribed in the statute. But as it plainly fol- 
lows the rulings of the Western courts, we close 



CONTROL OF CHILD'S STUDIES. 49 

with a quotation from the Wisconsin decision al- 
ready referred to (Wis.") : 

" In our opinion, there is a great and fatal error 
in this part of the charge, in asserting or assuming 
the law to be that, upon an irreconcilable difference 
of views between the parents and teachers as to 
Mhat studies the child shall pursue, the authority 
of the teacher is paramount and controlling. We 
do not understand that there is any recognized 
principle of law, nor do we think there is any rec- 
ognized rule of moral or social usage, which gives 
the teacher an absolute right to prescribe and dic- 
tate what studies the child shall pursue, regardless 
of the views or wishes of the parents. Form what 
source does the teacher derive this authority ? Or- 
dinarily, it will be conceded, the law gives the par- 
ent the exclusive right to govern and control the 
conduct of his minor children ; it is one of the earli- 
est and most sacred duties taught the child to 
know and obey its parents. The situation is truly 
lamentable, if the condition of the law is that he 
is liable to be punished by the parent for disobey- 
ing his orders in regard to his studies, and the 
teacher may lawfully chastise him for not disobey- 
ing his parents in that particular" (Wis.^^). 



50 THE teacher's AUTHORITY. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE BIBLE AND RELIGIOUS EXERCISES. 

1. The Law in New York. — In New York the 
decisions of the State Department have uniformly 
denied the right to insist upon religious exercises 
of any kind. In the year 1853, Margaret Gifford, 
a common-school teacher in South Easton, Wash- 
ington County, ordered William Callaghan, a pupil 
aged twelve years, ' ' to study and read the Protes- 
tant Testament." He declined to do so, on the 
ground ' ' that he was a Catholic, and did not be- 
lieve in any but a Catholic Bible." The teacher 
consulted the trustees on the subject, and on the 
next day again required the boy to read out of the 
King James Bible. The boy declared " his unwill- 
ingness to disobey the orders of his parents and vio- 
late the precepts of his religion, ' ' whereupon the 
teacher ' ' chastised him severely with her ferule and 
then expelled him ignominiously from the school. " 

An appeal was taken to Henry S. Randall, then 
Superintendent of Common Schools, who quoted 
and endorsed the following opinion of his predeces- 
sor, John C. Spencer : 

" Prayers cannot form any part of the school 
exercises, or be regulated by the school discij)line. 
If had at all, they should be had before the hour 
of nine o'clock, the usual hour for commencing 
school in the morning, and after five in the after- 



RELIGIOUS EXERCISES. 51 

noon. If any parents are desirous of habituating 
their children to the practice of thanking their 
Creator for his protection during the night, and in- 
voking his blessings on the labors of the day, they 
have a right to place them under the charge of the 
teacher for that purpose. But neither they nor the 
teacher have any authority to compel the children 
of other parents who object to the practice from 
dislike of the individual or his creed, or from any 
other cause, to unite in such prayers. And, on the 
other hand, the latter have no right to obstruct the 
former in the discharge of what they deem a sacred 
duty. Both parties have rights ; and it is only by 
a mutual and reciprocal regard by each to the 
rights of the other that peace can be maintained or 
a school can flourish. The teacher may assemble 
in his room before nine o'clock the children of 
those parents who desire him to conduct their reli- 
gious exercises for them ; and the children of those 
who object to the practice will be allowed to retire 
or absent themselves from the room. If they per- 
sist in remaining there, they must conduct with the 
decorum and propriety becoming the occasion. If 
they do not so conduct, they may be dealt with as 
intruders" (K Y.*'). 

Superintendent Randall, after stating that this 
is the first instance in which an appeal in regard to 
the reading of the Bible has been brought before 
the Department, then goes on to discuss the general 
question of the connection of intellectual and reli- 
gious instruction, and concludes as follows : 

" I believe that the Holy Scriptures, and espe- 
cially that portion of them known as the New 
Testament, are proper to be read in schools by pu- 
pils who have attained sufficient literary and men- 



52 THE teacher's authority. 

tal culture to understand their import. I believe 
they may, as a matter of right, be read as a class- 
book by those whose parents desire it. But I am 
clearly of the opinion that the reading of no ver- 
sion of them can be forced on those whose con- 
sciences and religion object to such version. 

" Assuming the facts stated in the complaint to 
be true, I consider the conduct of the teacher, Mar- 
garet Gifford, to be not only unwarrantable but 
barbarous. That she should not only ' ignomini- 
ously expel ' the pupil, but that she should gratui- 
tously inflict a preliminary castigation on a child 
of tender years, who plead the ' commands of his 
parents and the precepts of his religion ' against 
the obeyal of her orders, betrays feelings as unusual 
to her sex as repugnant to the mild precepts of that 
Gospel which, I trust, with honest though certainly 
with mistaken zeal, she was attempting to uphold. 
Perhaps she deserves a lesser measure of reprehen- 
sion if she acted, as would appear, though it is not 
expressly stated, under direction of the trustees. 
But neither the trustees, the majority of the peo- 
ple of the district, the town superintendent, nor all 
of these united, would have power to authorize 
such an outrage" (N. Y."). 

In accordance with this decision, it has been uni- 
formly ruled that pupils cannot be compelled to at- 
tend religious services (N. Y.^^), and that the law 
gives no authority, as a matter of right, to use any 
portion of the regular school hours in conducting 
any religious exercise at which the attendance of 
the pupils is made compulsory (N. Y.*®). The 
cities of Troy and Rochester have forbidden any 
religious exercises. But in most communities in 
this State, opening the school with Bible-reading 



RELIGIOUS EXERCISES. 53 

and some form of prayer is considered unobjection- 
able and desirable. 

2. In other States. — In Massachusetts, the law 
directs the committee to require the daily reading 
of the Bible, " but they shall require no scholar to 
read from any particular version, whose parent or 
guardian shall declare that he has conscientious 
scruples against allowing him to read therefrom" 
(Mass.''). In Maine, a requirement by the superin- 
tending school-committee, that the Protestant ver- 
sion of the Bible shall be read in public schools of 
their town by scholars who are able to read, is not 
in violation of any constitutional provision, and is 
binding upon the members of the school, although 
composed of divers religious sects (Me.*). In New 
Jersey, the school money is appropriated to public 
schools, provided that it shall not be lawful for any 
teacher, trustee, or trustees to introduce into or 
have performed in any school receiving its propor- 
tion of public money, any religious service, cere- 
mony, or forms whatsoever, except reading the 
Bible and repeating the Lord's Prayer" (N. J.^). 
In Illinois, Judge Pillsbury has decided that the 
directors have a right to dictate what books shall 
be studied and used, and can, therefore, order the 
Bible to be read as a text-book in connection with 
other studies. This decision was rendered in a suit 
brought by a Roman Catholic, who had instructed 
his son to pay no attention while the Bible was 
read in school, but to go on studying his lessons. 
The lad was expelled, and the action of the school- 



54 THE teacher's authority. 

mistress was justified both by the trustees and by 
the court (111.^). In Indiana, "the statute does 
not require, even by implication, that there shall 
be any devotional exercises or religious instruction 
in the schools, nor does it prohibit it. The legisla- 
ture, in the revision of the statutes of 1852, made 
provision for the reading of the Scriptures, in case 
it is desired, in any of the common schools ; and it 
has been so far acquiesced in by the people, that 
no question in regard to it has, as yet, come before 
the Supreme Court" (Ind.^). In Kentucky, the 
statute neither prescribes nor prohibits. " There- 
fore, if nothing sectarian is introduced, religious 
exercises are permissible " (Ky.^). In Iowa, " nei- 
ther the electors, the board of directors, nor the 
sub-directors can exclude the Bible from any school 
in the State " (la.'*). In Missouri, the directors may 
compel the reading of the Bible (Mo.*). In 1869, 
the Cincinnati Board of Education forbade the read- 
ing of the Bible in the public schools of that city. 
An appeal was taken to the courts, and in 1870 the 
Superior Court of Cincinnati decided against the 
Board of Education. In 1873, the Supreme Court 
of Ohio reversed this judgment and sustained the 
Board of Education (O.^. In 1875, the School 
Board of Chicago followed the example of Cincin- 
nati (111.^"), and forbade the reading of the Bible in 
the public schools. In 1878 the School Board of 
New Haven took similar action. 



SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION. 55 



CHAPTER Vm. 

suspension and expulsion. 

1. What the Teacher may Require of the 
Pupil. — It is a common custom to draw up, print, 
and conspicuously post a long series of regulations 
for the conduct of pupils in the school-house and 
about the grounds, the practical effect of which is 
to suggest to them many forms of mischief which 
their unaided ingenuity would never devise. It is 
only necessary here to remark that the law confers 
upon the trustees no power to inflict pecuniary 
fines (N. Y.,*^ Wis."), or to keep tardy pupils in 
the entry or outside the building, especially in cold 
weather (N. Y.*^). So far as these regulations per- 
tain to the necessary discipline of the school, the 
authority is in the hands of the teacher, and 
though the methods employed by him do not 
please the trustees, the teacher cannot be removed 
except for incompetence or cruelty (405). He can- 
not, however, compel pupils to do any janitorial 
work, like building fires, or sweeping the school- 
house (111.," la.,' R. I., 2 Wis.," Mo.,' etc.). In 
1856, Judge Cutting, of the Supreme Court in 
Maine, decided that a boy attending school might 
be required by the teacher to build the fire at the 
school-house his proportion of the time, and sus- 
tained the teacher for flogging a boy because he 



56 THE teacher's authority. 

refused to make a fire (Me.®). But this decision 
stands alone, and is not good law (Mass. ^). "A 
child who wantonly carries dirt into the school- 
room, or litters paper over the floor, may be re- 
quired to gather up such refuse as has been scat- 
tered. But this is as a punishment. It may be very 
desirable, under certain circumstances, to have such 
work done to save money ; but no court will sustain 
a board in suspending a pupil for refusal to do 
the work thus required " (111.," la.,^ Ky.^). 

2. For what Pupils may be Expelled. — The 
right to attend school is not absolute, but is condi- 
tional upon compliance with the rules and regula- 
tions of the school (Vt.*^. The parent has no right 
to interfere with the order of the school or the 
progress of other pupils by sending his own child 
at times, and in condition or under restrictions 
that will prove an annoyance and hindrance to 
others (la."). 

a. The Teacher may Suspend. — ^Accordingly there 
is vested in the teacher the right to suspend, and 
in the board the right to expel pupils from school. 

" Judge Vincent, of Erie, Pa., in a recent charge 
ruled that, though the authority to suspend or ex- 
pel pupils from school is vested in the board of di- 
rectors, the teacher has the right to exclude a re- 
fractory pupil temporarily from school. 
We have long held the opinion that the right to 
exclude a pupil temporarily from school was, in the 
absence of law to the contrary, inherent in the 
teacher's office, and that the exercise of this right 
under some circumstances is a necessity" (O.^). 



SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION. 57 

It has even been held that ' ' the master may ex- 
pel a scholar when in his judgment the good order 
and proper government of the school requires it, 
and if he errs in good faith in the discharge of his 
duty he is not liable to action therefor" (Vt.^). 
But it is generally understood that the power of 
the teacher extends only to temporary suspension, 
that the matter must be immediately brought be- 
fore the trustees, and that the trustees alone have 
the power to continue the suspension or to convert 
it into expulsion. In New Jersey, the statute di- 
rectly provides that the teacher may " suspend 
from school any pupil for good cause" (N. J.^) 

h. The Trustees may Uxjjel.—^^ 1^0 pupil can be 
expelled from the public schools for a frivolous or 
light or trivial cause. The teacher possesses the 
power and has the right to coerce obedience to the 
rules of school by proper and reasonable punish- 
ment, if it can be done, before the pupil is expelled 
from school. It is only when reasonable means or 
punishment of the refractory scholar have failed to 
induce obedience that he can be justified in expel- 
ling such scholar. If, however, a scholar persists 
in disobeying the teacher, after proper admonition 
or punishment, to such extent as to justify the be- 
lief that the course of disobedience will be con- 
tinued, then the trustees will be justified in expel- 
ling the scholar" (Ky."). In Rhode Island, the 
committee may suspend during pleasure all pupils 
found guilty of " incorrigibly bad conduct or of 
violation of the school regulations" (R. I.^). In 



58 THE teacher's authority. 

California, " continued wilful disobedience or open 
defiance of the authority of the teacher constitutes 
good cause for expulsion, and habitual profanity 
or vulgarity good cause for suspension" (Cal.^). 
In Maine, the committee may " expel from school 
any obstinately disobedient and disorderly scholar, 
after a proper investigation of his behavior, if 
found necessary for the peace and usefulness of 
the school " (Me/). In Massachusetts, " the school- 
committee has authority, not subject to revision if 
exercised in good faith, to exclude a pupil from a 
public school for misconduct which injures its dis- 
cipline and management" (Mass., "' ^°). In Wiscon- 
sin, " a pupil can be expelled where no rules have 
been made, when flagrant misconduct or gross im- 
morality renders it necessary for the good of the 
school" (Wis.^^). "The law does not require a 
notice to parents of the intention to expel a pupil, 
or an opportunity for explanation or defence. The 
board has large discretionary power. This is one 
of the matters under their direction" (la.''). 

Trustees may expel pupils for open, gross Im- 
morality manifested by any licentious propensities, 
language, manners, or habits, though not mani- 
fested by acts of licentiousness or immorality with- 
in the school (Mass."), or for such violent insubor- 
dination against reasonable and proper regulations 
of the school as to render it impossible to maintain 
necessary discipline and order (132), or when in 
their judgment the good order and proper govern- 
ment of the school demands it (N. Y."). If trus- 



SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION. 59 

tees will not expel them, a teacher may refuse to 
instruct large boys who treat her disrespectfully 
and refuse proper obedience. " A female cannot 
be expected to control large boys by physical 
force" (N. Y.*^). A boy expelled for impertinence 
should be readmitted if he apologizes (K. Y.^"), 
and cannot be required to apologize upon his knees 
(N. Y. ^^) . " Pupils who go to school without proper 
attention to cleanliness or neatness shall be sent 
home to be properly prepared for school " (Cal.^). 
In most States pupils may be refused admission 
whose parents fail to provide them with the prop- 
er text-books for their classes. All States make 
provision for supplying text-books to children 
whose parents are unable to purchase them. 

3. How TO Enforce Expulsion. — If a pupil 
who has been suspended or expelled refuses to 
leave the building, the teacher or trustee may at 
once enter a complaint before any justice of the 
peace or city magistrate imder the following pro- 
vision : 

' ' Any person who shall wilfully disturb, inter- 
rupt, or disquiet any district school or school-meet- 
ing in session, . . . shall forfeit twenty-five 
dollars for the benefit of the school district" (234, 
■Wis.,^^ Me.,^ Ind.,^ Cal.,' K J.^). 

4. How Long should Suspension Continue ? 
— a. A New Yorh Decision. — On April 8th, 1874, L. 
H. Hanchett was suspended from the Union School 
at Phoenix, N. Y. , " for disrespectful conduct and 
language towards his teacher," and the board re- 



60 THE teacher's AUTHORITY. 

fused to restore him until he should make apology. 
He refused to make such apology, on the ground 
that he had been unjustly dealt with in reference 
io a certain examination, and more than a year af- 
terwards he appealed to the State Superintendent 
to be readmitted to the school without apology. 
The Superintendent's decision reads as follows : 

" The language of the appellant to his teacher 
was such as no provocation would ever justify a 
gentleman in using toward a lady, as the teacher 
is ; and the appellant's own sense of self-respect 
and of what under the circumstances was due from 
him to his teacher should have led him to make 
the apology of his own free-will, without a demand 
for it from the board in behalf of the offended par- 
ty. But it appears that the appellant persistently 
refuses to do not only the teacher but himself jus- 
tice in the matter, for in view of the offence com- 
mitted, making at least the reparation of an apol- 
ogy for the language used, was, in my opinion, an 
act of justice even to himself, which he should 
have been not only willing but eager to perform. 
But in view of the fact that the appellant has al- 
ready been kept from the privileges of the school 
for more than a year, and that such a suspension 
may be well deemed a sufficient punishment for 
the offence, committed as it probably was under 
unusual excitement and by a scholar of uniform 
previous good conduct, the appeal is, I must admit 
with considerable reluctance, sustained, and the re- 
spondents are directed to restore the appellant to 
all the privileges of the school, on presenting him- 
self for that purpose" (JST. Y.^^). 

The principle here affirmed is that when the sus- 
pension has been continued long enough to be a 



SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION. 61 

sufficient punishment, the scholar must be received 
without acknowledgment of the wrong committed. 

h. The Usual View. — This is not the view com- 
monly held. In Maine, the statute directs the com- 
mittee to restore the pupil " on satisfactory evi- 
dence of his repentance and amendment" (Me.^). 

c. A Rhode Island Decision. — In Rhode Island the 
principle involved has been clearly stated. On 
March 9th, 1870, a scholar named Fuller resisted 
the authority of J. R. Davenport, principal of the 
Woonsocket High School. The teacher suspend- 
ed him. The committee justified the teacher in 
the suspension, but voted to restore the boy to the 
school unconditionally. The teacher appealed from 
the committee to the State Commissioner of Public 
Schools, who rendered the following decision : 

" In the case of Master Fuller, no punishment 
has as yet been inflicted for the offence committed, 
save that indirectly following the publicity of sus- 
pension from school ; and so far as the vote of the 
committee extends, there has been no requirement 
made which secures to the governing power of the 
school a recognition of the violation of law, or a 
proper pledge of future obedience. If the scholar 
so disobeying be allowed to return to the school- 
room without such acknowledgment of wrong, or 
a promise of future obedience, the discipline of 
the school would instantly be degraded to the posi- 
tion occupied by the offender, and to a state of dis- 
cord in harmony with the offence. On the other 
hand, the recognition, on the part of the offender, 
of the offence committed, as v/ell as an acknowl- 
edgment of the authority of the teacher to regulate 
the internal police of his school, with a pledge of 



63 THE teacher's authority. 

future obedience, not only honors proper and legiti- 
mate government and establishes it upon a proper 
basis, but it also honors the instinctive regard for 
truth, virtue, and correct deportment on the part 
of those who may have fallen into a fault, perhaps 
hastily and thoughtlessly. 

' ' Upon this view of the case stands the whole 
question of good government and discipline at 
home or at school. If the parent or teacher be at 
once deprived of the power of judging of the value 
of an offence, from its intrinsic character and its 
attendant circumstances, and also of the power to 
administer merited punishment for offences, as well 
as the granting of pardon and forgiveness on the 
ground of true reformation, the whole foundation 
and superstructure of disciplinary government are 
thrown down, and misrule must and will prevail. 

" The wise and judicious teacher is jealous of his 
true rights and prerogatives, and is the best judge 
as to the influences of the school-room, which help 
on the one hand to maintain, and on the other to sub- 
vert, good government. The look and the gesture 
may mean more of good or ill than the word and the 
act ; and it would not tend to the welfare of our 
schools, or to the support and dignity of home or 
school government, to subject every act of the 
teacher or the parent to the severe tests of legal 
scrutiny, or the partisan attacks of interested coun- 
sellors. In view, therefore, of the general appli- 
cation of the vote passed by the school committee 
of Woonsocket, by which said committee decided 
to admit Master Fuller to regular standing in the 
high school, and in view of its specific application 
to the school of which he was a member, as well 
as its practical influence upon all the schools of the 
town, if carried out, I am forced to the conclusion 
that it would not be for the welfare of the schools to 
allow this vote to be carried into effect, and I there- 
fore declare said vote to be null and void " (R. I.^), 



TEACHER AND PARENT. 63 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE TEACHER AND THE PARENT. 

Except as to the power of compelling the pupil 
to attend school punctually upon all school-days 
(see Chapter V.), and to take all the studies pur- 
sued by a certain class (see Chapter YI.), the rela- 
tion of the teacher's authority to that of the pa- 
rents may be considered definitely established. 

1. The teacher does not derive his authority 
from the parents. He holds a public oflice created 
by the law. He is legally responsible only to the 
trustees who hire him. Between the teacher and 
the child the parent can personally interfere only 
by removing the child from the school (N. Y./* 
Me.,^" Yt.^"). 

2. The school-house is the school-master's castle. 
Upon this point the following forcible statement is 
fully warranted : 

" This old maxim of English law (5 Rep. 92) is 
as applicable to the school-master as to any other 
person who is in the lawful possession of a house. 
It is true that the school oflacers, as such, have cer- 
tain rights in the school-house ; but the law will 
not allow even them to interfere with the teacher 
while he keeps strictly within the line of his duty. 
Having been legally put in possession, he can hold 
it for the purposes and the time agreed upon ; and 
no parent, not even the Governor of the State nor 
the President of the United States, has any right 



64 THE teacher's authority. 

to enter it and disturb him in the lawful perform- 
ance of his duties. If persons do so enter, he 
should order them out ; and if they do not go, on 
being requested to do so, he may use such force as 
is necessary to eject them. And if he finds that 
he is unable to put them out himself, he may call 
on others to assist him ; and if no more force is 
employed than is actually necessary to remove the 
intruder, the law will justify the teacher's act and 
the acts of those who assisted him" (27 Maine, 256 ; 
1 City Hall Rec. 55 ; 2 Met. 23 ; 6 Barbour, 608 ; 
8 T. R. 299 ; 2 Ro. Abr. 548 ; 2 Selk. 641 ; 1 C. & 
P. 6 ; 8 T. R. 78 ; Wharton's Am. Criminal Law, 
1256), — The Lawyer in the School-Room^ 1871, p. 
120. 

The teacher's best defence against querulous or 
insulting visits of parents to the school-room is 
found in that provision of the statute already once 
quoted (234, Wis.,'« Me,,^« Cal,,^ N, J.,' lnd,,« 
etc) : 

' ' Any person who shall wilfully disturb, inter- 
rupt, or disquiet any district school . . . shall 
forfeit twenty-five dollars for the benefit of the 
school district, 

" It shall be the duty of the trustees of the dis- 
trict, or the teacher of the school, and he shall have 
the power to enter a complaint against such offen- 
der before any justice of the peace of the county. 
. . . The magistrate . . . shall thereupon 
cause the person to be arrested and brought 
before him for trial." 

The efficacy of this remedy against disturbance 
in the school-room should be more generally un- 
derstood by teachers. The law is explicit, and 



TEACHER AND PARENT. 65 

any justice of the peace is obliged upon complaint 
of the teacher to bring the guilty party to trial. 

3. In regard to what transpires by the way in 
going to and returning from school, the authority 
of the teacher is concurrent with that of the parent. 
To this point, we find in the decisions of New 
York but a single reference — the following para- 
graph in a Digest of the Common School System 
of the State, S. S. Eandall, 1844, p. 362 : 

" The authority of the teacher to punish his 
scholars extends to acts done in the school-room 
or playground only ; and he has no legal right to 
punish for improper or disorderly conduct else- 
where." — Per 8pencer^ Sv/pt. 

This opinion is not sustained by legal decision 
in any State (Vt.," Mass.; " but see Mass.'"). The 
law upon this subject is well summed up by Su- 
perintendent Briggs, of Michigan, in " The School 
Laws of Michigan," 1873, pp. 304-206. The ad- 
ditional references are our own. 



a. In the School-room^ Absolute. — " In the school- 
room the teacher has the exclusive control and su- 
pervision of his pupils, subject only to such regu- 
lations and directions as may be prescribed or 
given by the school board. 

b. On the Playground, Absolute. — " The conduct of 
the pupils upon any part of the premises connected 
with the school-house or in the immediate vicinity 
of the same (the pupils being thus virtually under 
the care and oversight of the teacher), whether 
within the regular school hours or before or after 
them, is properly cognizable by the teacher. And 
any disturbance made by them within this range, 



66 THE TEACHEII'S AUTHOHITY. 

injuriously affecting in any way the interests of the 
school, may clearly be the subject of reproof and 
correction by the teacher. 

c. On the Road ^ Concurrent. — " In regard to what 
transpires by the way in going to and returning 
from school, the authority of the teacher may be 
regarded as concurrent with that of the parent. 
So far as offences are concerned for which the pu- 
pils committing them would be answerable to the 
laws, such as larceny, trespasses, etc., which come 
particularly within the category of crimes against 
the State, it is the wisest course generally for the 
teacher (whatever be his legal power*) to let the of- 
fenders pass into the hands of judicial or parental 
authority, and thus avoid being involved in contro- 
versies with parents and others, and exposing him- 
self to the liability of being harassed by prosecu- 
tion at law. But as to any misdemeanors of which 
the pupils are guilty in passing from the school- 
house to their homes, which directly and injurious- 
ly affect the good order and government of the 
school, and the right training of scholars, such as 
truancy, wilful tardiness, quarrelling with other 
children, the use of indecent and profane lan- 
guage, etc. , there can be no doubt that these come 
within the jurisdiction of the teacher, and are prop- 
erly matters for discipline in the school. A recent 
decision of the Supreme Court of Vermont illus- 
trates and fully accords with the foregoing posi- 
tions. The Court decided that such misdemeanors 
have a direct and immediate tendency to injure 
the school by subverting the teacher's authority, 
and begetting disorder and insubordination among 
the pupils. The same doctrine is substantially 
recognized by the Supreme Courts in some other 

* The teacher cannot punish a pupil for refusing to confess a 
crime for which he might be punished at \^\y.—Fuhlic School 
Actsof RJiode Idand, 1857, p. 53. 



TE ARCHER AND PARENT. 67 

States. . . . The governing principle in all 
cases like the Vermont case is, that icJiatever in the 
misconduct of pupils under like circumstances, as to 
time and place, etc. , has a direct tendency to injure 
the school in its important interests, is properly a sub- 
ject of discipline in the school. 

It is sometimes objected to the foregoing views 
that the responsibilities of teachers are in this way 
enlarged to an improper extent ; that if their au- 
thority extends beyond the school-house limits and 
the school hours, their responsibilities must be in- 
creased in a corresponding ratio. But to this it 
may be answered, that the matter is to have a rea- 
sonable construction ; that it cannot be expected 
that a teacher will follow his pupils into the streets 
to watch their conduct when beyond his view and 
inspection; the extent of his duty in this respect 
can be only to take cognizance of such misconduct 
of his pupils, under the supposed circumstances, as 
may come to his knowledge incidentally, either 
through his own observation or other proper means 
of information. ' ' 



The rules and regulations of the public schools 
of Kentucky say : " The pupils of the school are 
under the authority of their teachers while in 
school and while going to and from school ' ' 
(Ky.^"), but "it is not to be inferred by this that 
the teacher is to be held responsible for such mis- 
conduct, or mws^ punish it" (Ky,^^). The same 
regulations in California state: "It is expected 
that teachers will exercise a general inspection over 
the conduct of scholars going to and returning 
from school" (Cal.®). In Indiana, "schoolteach- 
ers and trustees cease to have control over pupils 



68 THE teacher's authority. 

when they reach home after dismissal from school. 
On the road they have control. They cannot com- 
pel pupils to study at home or anywhere except at 
school " (Ind.''). The Vermont case referred to by 
Superintendent Briggs was as follows. The de- 
fendant was the teacher of a district school in Bur- 
lington, and the plaintiff was a scholar eleven 
years old. One afternoon, an hour and a half after 
the close of school, after the boy had returned 
home from school, and while he was doing an er- 
rand for his father, the boy called the teacher 
' ' Old Jack 8eaver^ ' ' in the presence of other schol- 
ars of the school. The next morning, after school 
had opened, the teacher whipped the boy with a 
raw hide, and the court sustained him (Vt.^'^). In 
New Jersey, the law provides that " every teachei: 
shall have power to hold every pupil accountable 
in school for any disorderly conduct on the way to 
or from school, or on the playgrounds of the school, 
or during recess, and to suspend from school any 
pupil for good cause" (N. J.^). In Iowa, '' if the 
effects of actions done outside of school reach 
within the school during school hours, they may 
be justly forbidden" (la.^). "That the teacher 
and parents \\QNe joint control over children on their 
way to and from school is a well-recognized princi- 
ple. The teacher ought to secure the co-operation 
of the parent in such matters, if possible, to avoid 
the continual friction caused by this joint control " 
(la.^). In Missouri, however, the Superintendent 
decides : " If the parent will not co-operate with 



TEACHER AND PARENT. 69 

the board or teacher (the board's agent) by watch- 
ing over and controlling the child out of school 
hours, and off the school premises (when and where 
the board cannot exercise direct control or legal 
power), and such neglect of the parent works to 
the injury of school discipline or order, the board 
may expel the pupil" (Mo/). And in Rhode Isl- 
and, "the power to punish for offences out of 
school is doubtful " (R. I. ®). But Inspector Willm, 
of the academy at Strasbourg, gave as the French 
interpretation of the law : ' ' The road leading to 
the school is truly a part of it, if we may so speak, 
as well as the playground. Consequently, any dis- 
orders committed by the pupils on it ought to be 
suppressed" (France,^). And Horace Mann thus 
laid down the law which may be considered as still 
prevailing : 

" On the one hand, there is certainly some limit 
to the jurisdiction of the committee and teachers, 
out of school hours and out of the school-house ; 
and, on the other hand, it is equally plain, if their 
jurisdiction does not commence until the minute 
for opening school has arrived, nor until the pupil 
has passed within the door of the school-room, 
that all the authority left to them in regard to 
some of the most sacred objects for which our 
schools were instituted would be of little avail. 
To what purpose would the teacher prohibit pro- 
fane or obscene language among his scholars, with- 
in the school-room and during school hours, if 
they could indulge in it with impunity and to any 
extent of wantonness as soon as the hour for dis- 
missing school should arrive ? To what purpose 
would he forbid quarrelling and fighting among 



70 THE teachek's authokity. 

the scliolarg, at recess, if tliey could engage in 
single combat or marshall themselves into hostile 
parties for a general encounter within the precincts 
of the school-house, within the next five minutes 
after the school-house should be closed ? And to 
what |)urpose would he repress insolence to him- 
self, if a scholar, as soon as he had passed the 
threshold, might shake his fist in his teacher's face, 
and challenge him to personal combat ? These 
considerations would seem to show that there must 
be a portion of time, both before the school com- 
mences and after it has closed, and also a portion 
of space between the door of the school-house and 
that of the paternal mansion, where the jurisdic- 
tion of the parent on one side and of the commit- 
tee and teachers on the other is concurrent ' ' 
(Mass.^^). 

Punishment even for offences out of school must, 
however, be inflicted only on the school premises. 
In 1859, a teacher in Bedford, Ind., named Ariel 
Flynn, punished a boy on his way home from 
school for an act which the teacher saw him com- 
mit at that time. The Court instructed the jury 
that although the defendant as a teacher was by 
law vested with the delegated authority to exer- 
cise control over the boy as his pupil during school 
hours, yet after the adjournment of his school, and 
after the boy had left him and was on his way 
home, his authority over him had terminated, and 
his act of administering correction under the cir- 
cumstances was unauthorized by law (Ind.^)]. 

4. No Damages for Expulsion. — Nor do trus- 
tees make themselves liable for damages for expel- 



TEACHER AJSnO PARENT. 71 

ling a pupil, even though the rule be unwarrant- 
ably severe, provided they act in good faith (Yt."). 
In a recent case (October, 1877) the Supreme 
Court decided that when trustees had expelled a 
pupil for attending a social evening party in viola- 
tion of a rule of the school, no suit for damao-es 
could be sustained (Dritt 'vs. Snodgrass). The 
Court said : 

' ' Whether the rule was a wise one or not, the 
directors and teachers are not liable to an action 
for damages for enforcing it, even to the expul- 
sion of the pupil who violates it, "While this 
Court might, on tnandamus to compel the board 
and teacher to admit a pupil thus exj)elled, review 
the action of the board and pass upon the unrea- 
sonableness of the rule — which we do not, how- 
ever, decide here — ^yet the doctrine that the courts 
can do this is very different from that which 
would hold the directors liable in an action for 
damages for enforcing a rule honestly adopted for 
the maintenance of discipline in the school. That 
such an action is not maintainable is fully estab- 
lished by 38 Mo. 391 ; 23 Pick. 224 ; 14 Barb. 222 " 
(Mo.''). 

Judges Norton, Napton, Hough, and Sherwood 
concurred in the following views : 

' ' It certainly could not have been the design of 
the Legislature to take from the parent the control 
of his child while not at school, and invest it in a 
board of directors or teacher of a school. If they 
can prescribe a rule wiiich denies to the parent the 
right to allow his child to attend a social gathering, 
except upon pain of expulsion from a school which 



73 THE tbacheb's authority. 

the law gives him a right to attend, may they not 
prescribe a rule which would forbid the parent 
from allowing the child to attend a particular 
church, or any church at all, and thus step iji loco 
parentis and supersede entirely parental authority ? 
The directors, in prescribing the rule that scholars 
who attended a social party should be expelled 
from school, went beyond their power, and in- 
vaded the right of the parent to govern the con- 
duct of his child, when solely under his charge. 
My concurrence in the opinion of the court is based 
upon the sole ground that malice, oppression, and 
wilfulness on the part of the defendants are not 
sufficiently charged in the petition (Mo.'). 

5. Detention after School. — " Teachers may, 
at their discretion, detain scholars a reasonable 
time after the regular school hours, for reasons con- 
nected with the discipline, order, or instruction of 
the school. This practice has been sanctioned by 
general and immemorial usage among the schools, 
and by the authority and consent of school boards, 
expressed or implied, and has been found useful in 
its influence and results. There is no law defining 
precisely school hours, as they are termed, or the 
hours within which schools are to be kept. This 
is regulated by usage, or by the directions of school 
boards, varying in different localities, and also in 
different seasons of the year. The practice under 
consideration, of occasionally detaining pupils af- 
ter the regular school hours for objects connected 
with the school arrangements, rests upon precise- 
ly the same authority. The same superintending 
power that regulates the one, does the same thing 
in the other ; yet the right in question should al- 
ways be recognized by teachers with proper caution 
and a due regard to the wishes and convenience 
of parents" (Mich. ^). 



TEACHEK AND PARENT. 73 

In California, the regulations provide that " no 
pupil shall be detained in school during the inter- 
mission at noon, and a pupil detained at any recess 
shall be permitted to go out immediately thereaf- 
ter. All pupils except those detained for punish- 
ment shall de required to pass out of the school- 
room at recess, unless it would occasion an expo- 
sure of health" (Cal.'). 

6. Dignity of the Teacher's Office. — This 
subject of the relation of teachers to parents we 
have treated at considerable length, because it 
is commonly misunderstood. The teacher should 
feel that he is not a hired servant of the individ- 
ual inhabitants of the district, to be criticised and 
thwarted, and at the best but tolerated. He has 
legal rights, and no inconsiderable legal authority ; 
he should deserve and demand the respect due the 
dignity of his office. "Pull off thy hat. Sire," 
said the school-master to Charles II., " for if my 
scholars discover that the king is above me in au- 
thority here, they will soon cease to respect me." 



74 THE teacher's authority. 



CHAPTER X. 

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 

1. The General Law. —Paragraph 98 of the 
present school law of New Jersey reads as follows : 

' ' No teacher shall be permitted to inflict corpo- 
ral punishment upon any child in any school in this 
State." 

Some cities, notably New York and Syracuse, in 
like manner forbid corporal punishment in their 
own schools. Other cities, like Chicago, permit 
corporal punishment, but discourage it. In the 
great majority of schools, the teacher has the right, 
conferred by usage and confirmed by legal de- 
cision, to enforce discipline by means of corporal 
punishment. Even if a person over twenty-one 
years of age voluntarily attends school and is re- 
ceived as a scholar, he has the same rights and 
duties and is under the same restrictions and lia- 
bilities as if under that age (Me."). The princi- 
pal may, of course, punish for offences committed 
in other departments of the school (Wis.^^). But 
punishment must be inflicted by the teacher, and 
not by any supervisory officer (Me.). 

Thus in Pennsylvania, 

" The right of the teacher to inflict such punish- 
ment is founded upon the necessity of the case and 
not upon statute. It is absolutely necessary that 
good order should be maintained in schools, and 



COBPORAL PUNISHMENT. 75 

that all proper rules, regulations, and commands 
of the teacher should be strictly and promptly- 
obeyed. Hence a necessity exists for sufficient 
power to enforce this duty, and therefore it is held 
that the teacher may iniiict such reasonable corpo- 
ral punishment upon the pupil as the parent might 
inflict for a similar case" (Pa.^). 

Among the opinions and decisions appended to 
the New School Law of Indiana (1873) we find the 
law summed up in these paragraphs. The refer- 
ences to other authorities are our own. 

a. "A school-teacher while in the school-room 
is responsible for maintaining good order, and he 
must be the judge to some extent of the degrees 
and nature of the punishment required when his 
authority is set at defiance ; and although he will 
be held amenable to the law for any abuse of this 
discretion, still he will not be held liable on the 
ground of excessive punishment unless the punish- 
ment is clearly excessive, and would be held so in 
the judgment of reasonable men (Tenn.,^ Vt.^). 

h. "A teacher, in the exercise of the power of 
corporal punishment, must not make such power 
a pretext for cruelty and oppression ; but the 
cause must be sufficient, the instrument suitable, 
and the manner and extent of the correction, the 
part of the person to which it is applied, and the 
temper in which it is inflicted, should be distin- 
guished with the kindness, prudence, and propri- 
ety which become the station (Mass.,^* Ind.^"). 

c. "A school-teacher is liable criminally if, in 
inflicting punishment upon his pupil, he goes be- 
yond the limit of reasonable castigation, and, either 
in the mode or degree of correction, is guilty of 
any unreasonable or disproportionate violence of 
force ; and whether the punishment was excessive 



76 THE teacher's authority. 

under the circumstances, is a question for the jury 
(Mass.^*). 

d. "A parent is justified in correcting his child 
by administering corporal punishment, and a 
school-master, under whose care and intruction a 
parent has placed his child is equally justified in 
similar correction ; but the correction in both cases 
must be moderate, and given in a proper manner 
(Me.,^^ N. C/). 

e. "As to the spirit in which the punishment 
must be administered by the teacher, I would say 
it should not be in malice, and for the purpose of 
gratifying a malicious feeling, but in a proper 
spirit, w^th the sole object of maintaining his au- 
thority and preserving the order and decorum of 
his school ; and even when inflicted in this spirit, 
it must not be excessive or inhuman ; for such ex- 
cess, the party inflicting it will be guilty of assault 
and battery" (Ind.*' "). 

In New York, the compilation of Decisions of 
the Superintendent of Common Schools, published 
by Superintendent John A. Dix in 1837, contained 
this opinion (pp. 101, 102), which has since been 
regarded as authoritative in this State (Common 
School System, S. S. Kandall, 1844, p. 262 ; 408) : 

" If a teacher inflicts unnecessarily severe punish- 
ment upon a scholar, he is answerable in damages 
to the party injured. . . . With regard to the 
right to punish, no general rules have been laid 
down, and it would be difiicult, if not impossible, 
to make any which would be applicable in every 
case. The practice of inflicting corporal punish- 
ment upon scholars in any case whatever has no 
sanction but usage. The teacher is responsible 
for maintaining good order, and he must be the 



CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 77 

judge of the degree and nature of the punishment 
required, where his authority is set at defiance ; at 
the same time, he is liable to the party injured for 
any abuse of a prerogative which is wholly derived 
from custom." 

3. Preferable to Expulsion. — Another deci- 
sion in the same volume, p. l45, shows the view 
then held by Governor Dix as to the alternative 
of punishment an.d expulsion : 

' ' A teacher must, for the purpose of maintain- 
ing proper order and discipline in his school, have 
a right to employ such means of correction as he 
may deem necessary to the accomplishment of the 
object. For any unnecessary or excessive severity 
he would be answerable in damages in a suit of 
law to the person aggrieved. 

' ' A teacher ought not, I think, to dismiss a schol- 
ar from school. From the nature of the common- 
school system, teachers are, as a general rule, 
bound to receive and instruct all children sent to 
them. If a scholar is so refractory that he cannot 
be managed, and his dismission becomes necessary 
to the preservation of order, I think the teacher 
should lay the matter before the trustees for their 
direction ; but not until the ordinary means of cor- 
rection had been fully tried and found unavailing. ' ' 

We believe this to be sound doctrine. While 
corporal punishment should be seldom necessary, 
the pupils should not know that the power to in- 
flict it is taken from the teacher. Impertinence, 
for instance, always the utterance of a weak and 
cowardly nature, can be easily checked only by 
the certainty of immediate and physically painful 



78 THE teacher's authority. 

punishment. Deprivation of recess or extra tasks 
often develop it into confirmed insolence, and ex- 
pulsion follows. The boy whom one tingling 
blow of the ferule might have saved, thus grows 
up in low-bred ignorance. Instances like this we 
have known ; and we do not believe that Boards 
of Education should take away this right of the 
teacher, or that teachers themselves should osten- 
tatiously renounce it. If the teacher has determined 
to maintain good order without the use of the rod, 
it does him honor, and we wish him success. But 
let him keep his resolution to himself. There are 
pupils who fear only what hurts them ; and they 
may bring about a crisis when only the rod, and 
that vigorously applied, will maintain order in the 
school-room. 

3. Severity op Punishment. — a. General Prin- 
ciple. — The old common law as to the extent of cor- 
poral punishment was as follows : 

" The law confides to school-teachers a discre- 
tionary power in the infliction of punishment upon 
their pupils, and will not hold them responsible 
criminally, unless the punishment be such as to 
occasion permanent injury to the child, or be in- 
flicted merely to gratify their own evil passions' ' 
(Wharton's Criminal Law, 5th ed., vol. i., p. GC9). 

But this remark is found in Cooleys' Blackstone, 
2d ed., vol. i., p. 453. 

' ' It may be proper to observe, however, that 
public sentiment does not now tolerate such corpo- 



CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 79 

ral punishment of pupils in schools as was formerly- 
thought permissible, and even necessary." 

No line can be drawn between the use of the 
rod and its abuse ; but the following cases will il- 
lustrate actual decisions : 

J). A Case in North Carolina. — " Rachel Pender- 
gast kept a school for small children, and punished 
one of them with a rod to such an extent as to leave 
marks, all of which were likely to pass away in a 
short time and leave no permanent injury. The 
judge instructed the jury that if they believed that 
the child (six or seven years of age) had been 
whipped by the defendant at that tender age, with 
either a switch or other instrument, so as to pro- 
duce the marks described to them, the defendant 
was guilty. The jury under this charge returned a 
verdict of guilty, and the case was afterward ar- 
gued in the higher courts. Here Judge Easton 
held teachers exceed the limits of their authority 
when they cause lasting mischief, but act within 
the limits of it when they inflict temporary pain. 
In this case the marks were temporary, and in a 
short time disappeared. No permanent injury was 
done to the child. The only appearances that 
could warrant the belief or suspicion that the cor- 
rection threatened permanent injury were the 
bruises on the neck and arms ; and these, to say 
the least, were too equivocal to justify the Court in 
assuming that they did threaten such mischief. 
We think, also, that the jury should have been fur 
ther instructed, that however severe the pain in- 
flicted, and however, in their judgment, it might 
seem disproportionate to the alleged negligence 
or offence of so young and tender a child, yet if it 
did not tend to produce or threaten lasting mis- 
chief, it was their duty to acquit the defendant ; 



80 THE teacher's AUTHORITY. 

unless the facts testified induced a conviction in 
their minds that the defendant did not act honest- 
ly in the performance of duty, according to her 
sense of right, but under the pretence of duty was 
gratifying malice" (N. C). 

c. A Case in Illinois. — In Fairfield, 111., a boy 
over fourteen failed to learn his grammar lesson. 
The teacher ordered him to take off his coat to be 
whipped, or to be expelled. The boy refused, and 
was expelled. A controversy arose as to the de- 
mand made for the boy to pull off his coat. The 
Superintendent's decision was as follows : 

" The law will not sustain the teacher in so bar- 
barous an act as compelling a pupil to take off his 
coat and be whipped for failing to learn a lesson. 
Such an act would subject the teacher to prosecu- 
tion, and I do not believe there is a court in the 
State that would not impose a fine upon him. . 
In my opinion, any teacher that cannot create an 
interest in his pupils on the side of good order and 
good lessons without resorting to such means, is 
not fit for the school-room, and the sooner a dis- 
trict dispenses with his services the better" (111."). 

d. A Case in Connecticut. — On July 21st, 1865, 
John G. Lewis, principal of one of the public 
schools of New Haven, Conn., was brought before 
the City Court for assault and battery on Francis 
M. Hoban, one of his pupils. The Court stated 
the case, and decided it as follows : 

" On the 21st of July last, and during the regu- 
lar school hours, Mr. Lewis, as a punishment for 
some supposed misdemeanor on the part of young 
Hoban, directed him to take his book and go to 



CORPORAL PUNISHSfENT. 81 

the recitation-room. The order was reluctantly 
obeyed. At the closing of the school, but before 
the pupils had retired, he came out of the room 
without permission, and was immediately ordered 
back by the teacher. The order was several times 
repeated, and Hoban repeatedly refused to obey. 
Seizing two or three brushes, which were lying 
near by, with oaths and language most foul, and 
threats of violence if the teacher approached him, 
he dared him to come on, and all this in the pres- 
ence of a large number of the scholars. Hoban 
is a boy of fourteen years of age, of fair size for his 
years, and, as it would seem, possessed of more 
than ordinary strength. It is clear, under all the 
circumstances, there was but one course for the 
teacher to pursue. He must vindicate his author- 
ity. It was necessary for the good of the school, 
as well as of the boy himself, that he should learn 
obedience and submission to that authority. For 
the milder offence, a mild punishment had been in- 
jQicted by sending him to the recitation-room to 
study by himself. For the more serious offences, 
the insults to the teacher, the refusal to obey a 
proper command, the vulgar and profane language, 
the threats to kill the teacher if he should attempt 
to whip him, it was manifestly fitting and proper 
that he should receive a severer punishment. Mr. 
Lewis now approached the boy, who endeavored 
to strike him with the brushes. A struggle en- 
sued, in which the teacher, notwithstanding the 
violent resistance of the pupil, succeeded in push- 
ing him into the recitation-room ; but I do not find 
that he used more force than was necessary to ac- 
complish this object. I do not find that the whip- 
ping was either cruel or excessive, and though 
severe, taking into consideration all the circum- 
stances under which it was inflicted, it was not 
in my judgment unreasonable, but entirely justi- 



82 THE teachek's authority. 

fiable. The accused is therefore discharged'' 
(Conn.^). 

e. Two Cases in Neio Yorlc. — " The facts appear to 
be tha,t the pupil flatly refused to obey the teacher, 
by not taking the seat he was directed to take. 
The teacher came toward the boy, intending to 
compel him by force to take the seat assigned to 
him. The boy, with an oath, bade the teacher 
not to come near him, and, as the teacher ap- 
proached, the boy struck at him several times. 
The teacher caught the boy, and with force put him 
in his seat, the boy meantime kicking, striking, 
yelling, and swearing. To stop this outrageous 
and unseemly noise, the teacher took the most ef- 
fectual measure at his command ; he intercepted 
the passage of air between the lungs and the vo- 
cal organs long enough to suppress the disturb- 
ance, but not long enough to injure the boy. But 
the boy was not subdued by any such gentle re- 
straint, for no sooner was he left alone than he ran 
out of doors. The teacher pursued and caught 
him, and brought him back to the school-room, not, 
it appears, without some considerable force, for 
the boy struggled with all his strength ; and it 
would really not be strange if in the struggle he 
received some severe blows. And for this the Su- 
perintendent is asked to annul the certificate of the 
teacher. I decline to do any thing of the kind. 
The teacher, in the matter of the boy, did no more 
than he was compelled to do ; he might have done 
much more, and still be acquitted of inflicting 
cruel and unusual punishment. It was not cruel, 
and if it was unusual, it was only so because the 
conduct of the boy was unusual (409). 

" A teacher, for an act of disobedience, ordered 
a boy, fifteen years of age, to hold out a book of the 
ordinary size used in school, at arm's length, level 
with his shoulder. The boy, after holding it in 



CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 83 

that position from five to eight minutes, let it fall, 
and said he could not hold it any longer. On be- 
ing ordered to hold it out again, he peremptorily 
refused. The teacher then, with a curled maple 
rule, over twenty inches long, one and three quar- 
ters wide, and half an inch thick, struck him from 
fifteen to twenty blows on his back and thighs, 
and in so severe a manner as to disable him from 
leaving the school without assistance. A phy- 
sician was called, and found his back and limbs 
badly bruised and swollen. The teacher on the 
succeeding day sent him to a physician, who pro- 
nounced him ' very badly bruised. ' It was ten or 
twelve days before he so far recovered as to be able 
to attend school. The Superintendent expresses 
his unqualified disapprobation of a punishment so 
severe and unreasonable. If the disobedience of 
the boy had been the result of sheer obstinacy and 
wilfulness, it could not justify the infliction of fif- 
teen or twenty blows with such a bludgeon upon 
the back and thigh of a boy, disabling him for a 
fortnight. Such a measure of punishment for such 
an offence would be sufficient ground for annul- 
ling a certificate " (407). 



84 THE teacher's authority. 



CHAPTER XI. 

IN LOCO PARENTIS. 

"We come now to a relation of the teacher toward 
his pupil too broad and general to be defined by 
statute law, but referred to in common law under 
the expre^ion in loco parentis — in place of the pa- 
rent. Just now there is a tendency to regard this 
phrase as a legal fiction, and to consider it the sole 
duty of the teacher to instruct in the branches laid 
down in the course of study. For instance, it is 
becoming common to forbid all exercises of a relig- 
ious character. This action is usually prompted 
by a desire to anticipate and prevent demands for 
sectarian apportionments ; but some regard it as a 
first step toward relieving the teacher at once of 
the responsibility and of the right to control the 
pupils in any thing outside of their studies. The 
attendance and the character of pupils and even 
their conduct while in school would be no concern 
of the teacher. If the child failed to comply with 
the prescribed regulations, the remedy would be 
simply to expel him. This view, emphatically set 
forth in a prominent magazine,* we believe no true 
teacher ever held. 

The old Massachusetts law has the true ring of 
sound educational principle : 

* The National Teachers^ Monthly, for June, 1875. 



IN LOCO PARENTIS. 85 

" It shall be the duty of the president, profes- 
sors, and tutors of the University at Cambridge 
and of the several colleges, of all preceptors and 
teachers of academies, and of all other instructors 
of youth, to exert their best endeavors to impress 
on the minds of children and youth committed to 
their care and instruction the principles of piety 
and justice, and a sacred regard to truth ; love of 
their country, humanity, and universal benevo- 
lence ; sobriety, industry, and frugality ; chastity, 
moderation, and temperance ; and those other vir- 
tues which are the ornament of human society and 
the basis upon v^hich a republican constitution is 
founded ; and it shall be the duty of such instruc- 
tors to endeavor to lead their pupils, as their ages 
and capacities will admit, into a clear understand- 
ing of the tendency of the above-mentioned vir- 
tues to preserve and perfect a republican constitu- 
tion, and secure the blessings of liberty, as well as 
to promote their future happiness, and also to 
point out to them the evil tendency of the opposite 
views" (Mass.,^^ Cal.,« R. I/). 

Our public schools were created to make, not 
scholars simply, but men and women. When ed- 
ucation is confined to the imparting of certain 
branches of knowledge, it will have no claim to be 
maintained at public expense. Penmanship and 
physics taught where only the intellect is trained, 
are as likely to be the weapons of the forger and 
the burglar as they are to be the support of law- 
abiding citizens. Healthy care for the mind and 
body, a right purpose in life, sound and intelligent 
morality — ^these are the lessons the public school 
should instil ; beside them, arithmetic and gram- 



86 THE teacher's authority. 

mar and geography are incidental in importance. 
They must first be exemplified in the teacher's 
life, and thus become a continual lesson to every 
pupil. But this is not enough. The true teacher 
will know his pupils as individuals, and will feel in 
each an interest which only the term parental de- 
scribes. 

He sees among his pupils a slovenly boy. Judi- 
ciously, quietly, here a little and there a little, he 
conveys hints which bear fruit in clean hands, 
polished shoes, and brushed clothes. He notices a 
girl too showily dressed, and, choosing his time, 
appeals to her kindness not to make her less 
wealthy neighbors uncomfortable. He observes a 
pale student who never goes out at recess, invites 
him to a walk, and impresses upon him the futility 
of cultivating the mind to the neglect of the body. 
He overhears the coarse expressions of a good-na- 
tured, stable-bred young fellow, and finds occasion 
to point out to him that the only sure indication 
of culture is the language one uses. He finds un- 
truth a prevalent vice. Kot satisfied with general 
instruction, exhortation, and reproof, he seeks out 
the individuals in whom it is most alarming, and 
impresses upon each that the lie stamps the utterer 
at once a coward and a fool. He sees in a pale 
face, and reserved, absent-minded manners, indica- 
tions of a most common and deadly crime. Cau- 
tiously, kindly, but steadfastly, he labors to save a 
life from ruin and a soul from perdition. These 
and such as these are the efforts which task the 



IN LOCO PARENTIS. 87 

conscientious teacher. He dishonors his profes- 
sion who neglects them. 

We are told that this is a great deal to require ; 
that it demands of the teacher a combination of tal- 
ents with common-sense which would make him 
eminent in any profession. True enough : and 
why not ? The time has been when he became a 
teacher who lacked the brains to succeed at any 
thing else. The time is coming when he shall be- 
come something else who lacks the brains to suc- 
ceed as a teacher. Away with the narrow-minded 
notion that the teacher need only impart square 
feet of problems and linear yards of paradigms. 
No other profession exacts at once such versatility 
and such thoroughness ; such judgment and such 
insight into human nature ; such sincere politeness ; 
and such honest manhood and womanhood. The 
writer of these articles has been under the instruc- 
tion of many teachers, in ungraded, grammar and 
high schools, in the academy, in the college, and 
in the professional school. Among these teachers 
were learned men and noble men, whom he re- 
spects and reveres. But of them all, he recognizes 
but one as having exerted upon him a marked in- 
fluence. Kor can he better close these articles 
than by quoting here a grateful reference which he 
made years ago to the truest teacher he ever knew 
— Rev. William Hutchinson, now Principal of Nor- 
wich (Conn.) Free Academy : 

' ' I can imagine no life more unsatisfactory than 
that of an incapable teacher. Bullied by the large 



88 THE teachek's authobity. 

boys ; himself a bully to the smaller ; jeered to his 
face ; insulted behind his back ; his school a bed- 
lam ; his recitations a farce ; hired only because 
cheap — he draws his grudgingly paid stipend in the 
delusion that he is respectable, because a profes- 
sional man. 

' ' Such wert not thou, O Zeus — name fortuitous- 
ly bestowed, but applied in no disrespectful spirit, 
and cherished among the healthiest recollections 
of the past. Happy were we who sat at thy feet. 
Happy in sound and accurate instruction ; happy 
in the instilment of a love for thorough scholar- 
ship ; happy in the example and fellowship of one 
who was in every way a man. We were careless 
and wayward ; far less than we ought did we profit 
by thy teachings ; but the most indifferent of us 
failed not to catch some warmth from thy glow- 
ing countenance, and the most earnest gladly ac- 
knowledge thy quickening influence. If it be no- 
ble to give one's every energy to his calling; to 
wrestle with bodily infirmity that one's duty be 
faithfully performed ; to persevere amidst perverse- 
ness and ingratitude in conscientious attention to 
the minds and characters of one's pupils — then 
wert thou a nobleman. And if it be a satisfaction 
to have wrought in all committed to thy charge a 
lasting impression of the dignity of Christian man- 
hood, then hath thy life's labor been not unre- 
warded." — Yale Literary Magazine^ June, 1869. 



EEFEEENOES. 



Arabic figures in parenthesis indicate tlie page of tlie New 
York State Code of Pablic Instruction, edition of 1868. 

All other references are to authorities in different States, and 
will be found below, arranged first alphabetically by States, and 
then numerically in the order of the references. Thus, for 
(Mass. 15), look below for Massachusetts, and under this State 
look for 15, and the reference is found to be pp. 147, 148. 

CALIFORNIA. 

The references are all to sections or pages of the School Law 
of California, edition of 1876. 

1. § 1696. 4. p. 63. 7. p. 61. 

2. 1673. 5. § 1868. 8. § 1702. 

3. 1685. 6. p. 62. 

CONNECTICUT. 

1. ATnerican Educational Monthly, U., 372, 373. 

ILLINOIS. 

The following references are to opinions of the State Super- 
intendent, printed in the Educational Weekly : 

1. Jan. 3, 1878. 14. Jan. 10, 1878. 

13. Nov. 15, 1877. 

The following are to Law Reports : 

2. 39111., 101; 3. 45111., 2. 12. 36 HI., 71. 
16111., 147. 4. 67111., 511. 

The following are miscellaneous : 

5. 11. Common Sclwol, Oct., 1876, p. 127. 

6. Chicago Legal News, VII., 309. 

7. Wisconsin Journal of Education, VIII., 87. 

8. State Report New Hampshire, 1877, 172. 

9. New York Sun. 

10. Kiddle & Schem's Cyclopedia of Education, 84. 



90 COMMON SCHOOL LAW. 

INDIANA. 

The following references are to Law Reports : 

1. 26 Ind., 337. 10. 4Ind., 290. 11. 14 Johns, 119. 
The following are to decisions of the State Superintendent, 
printed in the Indiana School Journal : 

2. 1877, p. 499. 5. 1876, p. 567. 

3. 1876, 522. 12. 1876, 568. 
The following are miscellaneous : 

4. Town Officer's Guide, 1877, p. 167. 

6. School Law of 1873, p. 57. 

9. " " '• pp. 87, 88. 

7. Common School Teacher, June, 1878, p. 134. 

8. American Educatiaaal Monthly, II., 297. 

IOWA. 

The following references are to Law Reports : 
1. 31 la., 562, 568. 3. 1 la., 359. 6. 31 la., 568. 8. 31 la., 562. 

The following are to decisions of the State Superintendent, 
printed in the American Journal of Education : 

2 Oct., 1877. 4. March, 1877. 5. Jan., 1878. 

9. Dec, 1876. 

7 is a decision of State Supt. Van Coelln, printed 
in the Educational Weekly. 

KANSAS. 

1. lOKs.,283. 

KENTUCKT. 

The following references are to opinions of the State Super- 
intendent, printed in Home and School : 

1. v., p. 377. 2. IV., p. 569. 3. V., p. 425. 

The following are to the " Kentucky School Lawyer,'' issued 
as an appendix to the State School Report for 1878 : 



4. pp. 
5. 
6. 

7. 112, 
165, 


27, 28. 

61. 

110. 

113, 163, 

167, 206. 


8. p. 120. 

9. 161. 

10. 167. 

11. 180. 

MAINE. 


12. pp. 188, 189. 

13. 172. 

14. 60. 

15. 192, 193. 



The following are to the School Law, edition of 1878 : 

1. p. 65. 5. p. 66. 8. p. 36. 

2. 65. 7. 24. 9. 24. 

The following are to Law Reports : 

3. 38 Me., 376. 5. 38 Me., 379. 12. 27 Me., 280. 

4. 38 Me., 376 ; 10. 38 Me., 376. 
27 Me., 281. 11. 27 Me., 266. 

No. 6 is to the New York Teacher, VI. ^ 432. 



BEFERENCES. 91 

JIASSACHtrSETTS. 

The following references are to the School Law of 1875, pub- 
lished with the 38th Report of the Board of Education : 

1. pp. 150, 160. 7. p. 151. 15. pp. 147, 148. 

4. 150. 9. 159. 
The following are to Law Reports : 

2. 9 Allen, 94. 6. 23 Pick., 224. 10. 105 Mass., 475. 

3. 2 Allen, 592. 5Cush., 198. 11. 8 Cush., 164. 

5. 22 Pick., 225. 8 Cush., 160. 14. 4 Gray, 36. 
The following are miscellaneous: 

5. 33d Report of Board of Education, 131, 133. 
8. New York Teacher, HI., 136. 

12. " " " n.,223. 

13. 10th Report Board of Education. 

MICHIGAK. 

1. 7 Wend., 181. 

2. School Law, 1873, p. 206. 

MISSOURI. 

The following references are to Law Reports: 

1. 51 Mo., 21. 3. 38 Mo., 679. 4. 38 Mo., 679. 

The following are to decisions of the State Superintendent, 
printed in the American Journal of Education : 

2, 5. Feb., 1878. 6. June, 1878. 7. , 1878. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

1. 19N.H.,170. 

2. School Report, 1877, p. 175. 

3. 6 Foster, 470. 

NEW JERSEY. 

These references are to the School Law of 1878 : 

1. p. 25. 2. p. 41. 3. p. 17. 

NEW YORK. 

The following references are to the Code of Public Instruc- 
tion, edition of 1868 : 

1. p. 410. 20. pp. 395, 397. 29. p. 399. 

8. 410. 21. 416. 33. 402. 

The following are to decisions of the State Superintendent, 
as numbered in the records at Albany 



2. 2145. 


20. 1665, 1753, 


35. 2139. 


3. 2191. 


1803, 2114. 


41. 1687. 


4. 201.5. 


21. 1808. 


42. 1874. 


6. 2191. 


22. 2245. 


45. 1753, 1763, 


8. 1942. 


23. 1975. 


46. 1985. 


9. 1907. 


24. 1978. 


47. 2091. 


11. 2194. 


25. 1825, 2217. 


48. 1682. 


12. 2480. 


26. 2081. 


49. 1725. 


13. 1982. 


27. 1978, 1983, 


50. 1697. 


15. 1978. 


2008, 2055. 


51. 1960. 


16. 1976. 


28. 1910. 


56, 1751. 


17. 1677. 


30. 1919. 


57. 1793. 


18. 1864. 


31. 1845. 




19. 1738, 1831. 


34. 1713. 





92 COMMON SCHOOL LAW. 

The following are to decisions printed in the New York 
Teacher : 

5. X., 282. 37. VII., 423. 44. IL, 79^2. 

32. IL, 271. 40. II., 116. 

The following are to Law Reports : 

7. 10 Barb., 396. 29. 15 Barb., 323. 

14. 11 Wend., 90. 36. 23 Barb., 176. 

22. 22 Sickels, 36. 39. 18 Abbot's Pr., 165 

23. 63 Barb., 177. 52. 14 Barb., 225. 
12 Sup. Ct., 649. 54. 14 Barb., 225. 

The following are miscellaneous : 

as. Laws, 1873, chap. 577, § 1. 

38. National Teacher's Monthly, III., 347. 

43. Orders and Decisions, State Dept., VIII., 102. 

53. Letter Book, State Dept., July 21, 1875. 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

1. 5 Jones, 98. 

2. 2 Dev. & Battle, 365. 

OHIO. 

1. state Commissioner's Eeport, 1875. 

2. Kentucky School Lawyer, p. 190. 

3. National Teacher, July, 1874. 

4. Kiddle & Schem's Cyclopedia, p. 84. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

1. 2Penn.,204. 

2. School Law, 1873, p. 52. 

RHODE ISLAND. 

These references are to the Common School Manual, 1873 : 

1. p. 84. 4. p. 144. 6. p. 199. 

2. 69. 5. pp. 145, 146. 7. 28. 

3. 25. 

TENNESSEE. 

1. 2 Cold., 181. 

2. 3 Head., 455. 

VERMONT. 

These references are all to Law Reports: 

1. 20 Vt., 495. 4. 35 Vt, 623. 10. 32 Vt., 224. 

28 Vt., 575. 41 Vt., 353. 11. 32 Vt., 120. 

29 Vt., 433, etc. 5. 28 Vt., 575. 12. 32 Vt , 114. 

2. 26 Vt., 115. 6. 48 Vt., 473. 13. 19 Vt., 108. 

30 Vt., 586. 7. 32 Vt., 224. 14. 32 Vt., 224. 
12 Vt., £92. 8. 48 Vt., 473. 15. 29 Vt., 219. 

3. 20Vt.,487. 9. 32Vt., 224. 



BEFEBENCES. 93 

WISCONSIN. 

The following references are to decisions of the State Super- 
intendent, printed in the Wisconsin Journal of Education : 

1. 1877, p. 223. 7. 1877, p. 223. 15. 1877, p. 124. 

2. " 320. 8. 125. 17. 1878, 223. 

3. 1876, 296. 9. 1876, 27. 18. 1876, 79. 
4. 1878, 315. 11. 1875, 30. 19. 1877, 362. 

5. " 224. 13.1877, 364. 20. " 125. 

6. " 223. 14. 1878, 173. 

The following are miscellaneous : 

4. 16 Wis., 316. 
10. 35 Wis., 59. 

12. State Report, New Hampshire, 1877, p. 173. 
16. Laws, 1874, chap. 135. 

FRANCE. 

1. Common School Manual, R. I., p. 200. 



94 



COMMON SCHOOL LAW. 



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APPENDIX. 



Questions given at the Examinations 

for State Certificates, begun 

December i6, 1875. 



STATE OF NEW YORK, 

lepartment of gublio Snetruction* 



First Examination for State Certificates, 

Albany^ December 16, 1875. 

EXAMINERS: 

Prof. John E. Bradley, Prin. Albany High School. 
Prof. Merrell E. G-ates, Prin. Albany Academy. 
Prof. A. N. Husted, State Normal School. 

Nine Candidates Entered — Four Successful : 

Henry Bosch, Albany. 
E. A. CoRBiN, Greenbush. 
S. LouGHRiDGE, ISTewburgh. 
Mary E. Shepherd, Auburn. 



AEITHMETIC— One Hour. 

1. From 8043 subtract 5768, and explain the oper- 
ation. 

2. Show that dividing both terms of a fraction by 
the same number does not change its value. 

3. Show that in multiplication of decimal frac- 
tions, the product must contain as many decimal 
figures as there are in both factors. 

4. The first term of a proportion is 7 ; the third, 



li FIRST STATE EXAMINATION, 

9 ; the fourth, 11 : find the second term and explain 
the operation. 

5. What is ^ per cent, of 4.7 ? 

6. An article was bought for $4|- and sold for $4 ; 
what was the loss per cent. ? 

7. A note at 30 days, for $400, without interest, 
is discounted by a bank at the rate of 7 per cent, per 
annum. How much does the bank pay for it ? 

8. I sold $1000 U. S. 5-20s at 118| per cent., pay- 
ing brokerage ^ per cent. How much did the broker 
pay me ? 

9. Extract the square root of .9. 



aEOaRAPHY— One Hour. 

1-5. Bound each zone and give the width of each 
in degrees. 

6. What circle separates the Eastern from the 
Western Hemisphere? 

7. How long is a day at the North Pole ? 

8. When does it begin and when end ? 

9. Which is farther 10° north or 10° west from 
Albany ? 

10. Why? 

11-15. Mention five lakes wholly within the State 
of New York. 

16-17. Mention two tributaries of the Mississippi 
above its confluence with the Missouri. 

18. What is the capital of the Dominion of Canada? 

19. Mention the provinces included in it. 

20. Which is the smallest state in the Union ? 

21. What bay on the east of Lake Huron? 

22. What bay on the west of Lake Huron ? 

23. Where is the Welland Canal? 

24. What cape at the southern extremity of Cali- 
fornia ? 



ALBANY, DECEMBER 16, 1875. lil 

25, On what two rivers is Philadelphia ? 

26-27. What lake between Lake Huron and Lake 
Erie ? What river connects it with Lake Erie ? 

28-32. Mention five seas, bays or gulfs on the 
southern coast of Europe. 

33. What is the largest river of North America 
which flows into the Pacific Ocean ? 

34. What is the capital of Denmark ? 

35. Where does the Danube empty ? 

36. What is the capital of Japan ? 

37. Which is the largest of the Sandwich Islands ? 

38. What country of South America extends far- 
thest south ? 

39. Mention a river in Africa south of the Equator ? 
40-42, State some of the conditions which deter- 
mine the climate of a locality. 

43-45. Grive three proofs of the rotundity of the 
earth. 

46. What is a watershed? 

47. What is the cause of land and sea breezes ? 

48. What is dew ? 

49. Name a rainless region, and state the cause. 

50. What is the entire population of the globe ? 



ENGLISH GRAMMAR— One Hour. 

1, Write the plural of (a) fanc]/, (h) chimney, (c) 
dye, (d) alumna, (e) Mr., (/) genus, (gr) son-in-law, (A) 
spoonfid. 

2, Grive an example of (a) -a derivative word and 
(&) a compound v/ord, 

3, Grive, in tabular form, the parts of speech you 
would recognize, placing after each (a) the classes 
and (6) the modifications (if any) which you would 
name as belonging to it. Thus : 



iv FIRST STATE EXAMINATION, 

PARTS OP SPEECH. CLASSES. MODIFICATIONS. 

Article \ Definite, ^ 

Article. -j Indefinite. ^^°^®- 

4. Write the following nouns in the possessive 
case, governed by boohs: (a) lady, (h) ladies^ (c) au- 
thoress, (d) women, (e) Prince of Wales. 

5. Compare the following adjectives : (a) near, (6) 
fore, (c) old, (d) happy, (e) gay. 

6. When would you. use the forms later, latest, and 
when latter, last ? When would you use further, and 
when farther ? 

7. Write the present infinitive, the imperfect past 
(or preterite) and the perfect participle of these 
verbs : (a) sow, (b) drink, (c) lie, (I lie down), (d) lie, 
(to falsify), (e) lay, (transitive), (/) singe, (g) frolic, 
{h) dye, (i) cast. 

8. Write a correct English sentence in which the 
verb does not " agree with its subject in person and 
number." 

9. JSTame the measure, and mark the feet of one 
line in the following : 

" So spake the seraph Abdiel, faithful found 
Among the faithless, faithful only he ; 

H« H« * H* H« Hs 

Nor numbers nor example with him wrought 

To swerve from truth or change his constant mind, 

Though single." 

10. Parse faithful, line 2, and single, line 5. Prin- 
cipal parts of ivrought. 

11. (a) Much (6) that Herodotus tells us of this 
expedition is (c) more incredible than (d) that (e) 
longer and far different description of it (/) which 
Xenophon gives, {g) Which of the historians shall 
we believe ? Or must we decide, in view of late dis- 
coveries, (Ji) that it is impossible to have faith any 
(i) longer in (/) what either of them has written 
about it? 



ALBANY, DECEMBER 16, 1875. 



Write each of the words to which a letter is pre- 
fixed. What part of speech is each, as here used, 
and to what class named in your table above would 
you refer it ? 

[Syntax and Analysis will receive more especial at- 
tention in the oral examination.] 



SELECTIONS FOR ANALYSIS AND PARSING. 

(1) Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 

(2) (That last infirmity of noble mind) 

(3) To scorn delights, and live laborious days ; 

(4) But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, 

(5) And think to burst out into sudden blaze, 

(6) Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears, 

(7) And slits the thin-spun life. "But not the 

praise," 

(8) Phoebus replied, and touch'd my trembling ears ; 

(9) " Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, 

(10) Nor in the glittering foil 

(11) Set off to the world, nor in broad rumor lies, 

(12) But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes, 

(13) And perfect witness of all-judging Jove : 

(14) As he pronounces lastly on each deed, 

(15) Of so much fame in Heaven expect thy meed." 

— Lycidas. 



UNITED STATES HISTORY— One Hour. 

1. Grive some facts and dates connected with the 
life and the discoveries of Christopher Columbus. 

2. Sketch briefly the war which gave Canada to 
England. 

3. What were the causes of the Revolutionary 



Vl FIRST STATE EXAMINATION, DEC. 16, 1875. 

war? Grive a brief outline of this war, naming at 
least four of the important battles, with dates. 

4. State the chief points of difference between the 
federation of the colonies and the present govern- 
ment of the United States. 

5. In what wars has our government been engaged 
since the Revolution ? Causes, results and dates. 

6. Name at least five presidents of the United 
States, mentioning some event associated with the 
administration of each of the five. 

7. What do you understand by the " Monroe Doc- 
trine ? " 

8. When did the war of the Rebellion begin, and 
when did it end ? Name the leading statesmen and 
generals engaged on either side. Mention at least 
six of the most important battles, with dates, 

9. What important events are suggested to you by 
the following dates: 1492? 1497? 1763? 1789? 
April 9, 1865 ? April 14, 1865 ? 



ALGEBRA— One Hour. 

1. Define and illustrate by examples, the terms, 
Coefficient, Exponent, Polynomial. 

2. Show that the product of two minus quantities 
is plus. 

3. Divide 12a^b^x by 4:a^b^x and explain the opera- 
tion. 

4. In the equation 4a3 + 4 = a — 3a;, transpose the 
terms + 4 and — 3x, and show that the operation 
does not destroy the equahty of the members. 

5. Solve the equations, o T 

^ ^ 2x + ay =:■ c. 

6. Define the terms. Radical Quantity and Similar 
Radicals. 

7. Prove that the square root of the product of 



SECOND EXAMINATION, MARCH 23, 1876. vii 

two quantities is equal to the product of their square 
roots. 

8. Solve — a;' = 12 — 4a;. 

Verify the first root. 



Second Examination for State Certificates, 

Syracuse^ March 23, 1876. 

EXAMINERS: 

Hon. Andrew D. White, LL.D., President of the 
Cornell University. 

James H. Hoose, A.M. Ph.D., Principal of the Cort- 
land State Normal School. 

Samuel Thurber, A.M., Principal of the Syracuse 
High School. 

One Candidate Entered ; Successful : 

H. F. Burt, A.M., Palmyra. 



ARITHMETIC— One Hour. 

1. Change $25 from a concrete to an abstract num- 
ber, and state your reasons for what you do. 

2. What part of an acre is a lot 75 ft. wide by 
150 ft. long ? 

3. Two places differ in time 4 h. 9 m. 7 sec. What 
do they differ in longitude ? 

4. Write the table of square measure. 

5. Sold 517 bbls. of flour for $8.10 a bbl, at a 
profit of 8 per cent. What was the whole cost ? 

6. A note for $1,800, payable in 60 days, was dis- 



Vlil SECOND STATE EXAMINATION, 

counted at a bank at 6 per cent. How much did the 
holder receive? 

7. What must be the length of a side of a cubical 
bin that shall contain the same quantity as one that 
is 24 ft. long, 18 ft. wide, and 4 ft deep ? 

8. What is the difference between an arithmetical 
and a geometrical progression ? 

9. How many square inches on the surface of a 
globe 15 inches in diameter ? 

10. Extract the square root of 8.241. (3 decimal 
places.) 



ENQLISH aRAMMAR— One Hour. 

1. Enumerate and define : 

(a) The Divisions of the subject of G-rammar. 
(&) The Parts of Speech and their sub-divisions. 

(c) The cases of nouns and of pronouns. 

(d) The Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs. 

(e) The moods and tenses of Yerbs. 

2. Analyze and Parse the following — quoting 
Rules of Syntax in the latter. 

(1) " Monarch, most illustrious of thy race, 

(2) Alcinous, now when ye have duly poured 

(3) Wine to the gods, be pleased to send me 

hence 

(4) In peace, and fare ye well! All that my 

heart 

(5) Could wish have ye provided bountifully, — 

(6) An escort and rich gifts ; and may the gods 

(7) Bestow their blessings with them ! " 
(Bryant's Translation, Odyssey, book XII, lines 48-54.) 



UNITED STATES HISTORY— One Houti. 

1. Grive a brief outline of the general differences in 
character, habits and ideas between the colonists who 
settled in Virginia and in New England. 



SYRACUSE, MARCH 23, 1876. Ix 

2. Grive a brief account of the different attempts to 
form a Union or Confederation earlier than the for- 
mation of our present Constitution. 

3. Give the date of the formation of the present 
Constitution. 

4. With what party in American pohtics is the 
name of Alexander Hamiltoa associated and with 
what important political treatise is the name con- 
nected ? 

5. With what party is the name of Thomas Jeffer- 
son associated ? 

6. With what party was Henry Clay connected ? 

7. What was the main feature of the " Ordinance 
of 1787?" 

8. What was the main feature of the Missouri 
Compromise ? Give its date. 

9. What war was ended by the Treaty of Ghent ; 
and how was the difficulty which had caused the 
war settled by the treaty ? 

10. Give the date of the inauguration of President 
Lincoln; and state what Presidents have been re- 
elected. 



METHODS. 

1. What is Pedagogy ? 

2. What are methods in Pedagogy ? 

3. Upon what do Methods rest as a foundation ? 

4. What do Methods assume ? 

5. Which way do they face in their out-look ? 

6. What is the difference between a Systematic 
discussion of subject-matter, suppose Arithmetic, and 
a Methodical discussion of the same subject-matter ? 

7. What is Manner, as compared to Method ? 

8. What data must be assumed in order to develop 
"Methods in Arithmetic" — and what process must 
be followed in the investigation ? 



SECOND STATE EXAMINATION, 



SCHOOL ECONOMY. 

1. What is a School? 

2. What is its exact place in our Civil Organiza- 
tion ? That is, where does it belong as it regards the 
Family, the Society, and the Civil Body Politic ? 

3. What is the relative position of the Instructor 
as compared to that of the Patron, to that of the 
Citizen, and to that of the Civil Officer in the employ- 
ment of the State ? 

4. As a Managing Officer in the School, what are 
the great Classes of Powers that the Instructor rep- 
resents, — looking towards the School ? 

5. What are proper Fundamental Considerations 
upon which to base Eegulations for School Manage- 
ment? 

6. What Classes of Regulations are to be consid- 
ered as essential in School Management ? 

7. To what Rights are pupils in School entitled ? 

8. How many Pupils should be assigned to each 
Teacher, in Grading Schools ? Or, upon what basis 
of Attendance should the number of Teachers be es- 
tablished ? 

9. What are the Special Purposes to Pupils of a 
Recitation ? 

10. What is the just Agency of the Teacher, at the 
Recitation ? 

11. What measures are you prepared to suggest, 
that shall best guard and conserve the Physical Well- 
being and Comfort of the pupils while in School ? 

12. What are the Sociable Duties of the Educator 
in the community in which he finds himseK located ? 

13. What purposes have you maturing, and what 
preliminary work have you already accomplished, by 
which you hope to solve the following Problem, viz. ; 

How can an Educator become able and effiictive as 
a School Manager and Teacher, and at the same time 
keep himself easily, sympathetically and vigorously 



SYBACUSE, MARCH 33, 1876. xl 

progressive in his own intellectual growth and Cul- 
ture, and also honor his Cause and himself in dis- 
charging his duties as a member of the Social and 
Civil Life to which he belongs ? 



SCHOOL LAW. 

Legal Qualifications : 

1. Is a teacher holding a State Certificate obliged 
to undergo the regular examination by the board of 
education in cities where the board has the legal 
right to license its own teachers ? 

2. Can a County Commissioner annul a State Cer- 
tificate ? If so, for what reasons and by what method 
of procedure ? What redress has the holder of the 
Certificate, if it has been annulled unjustly ? 
Teachers' Contracts: 

3. What conditions are necessary to the validity 
of a Teacher's Contract in a district with three trust- 
ees, as to 

(a) Legal qualification. 

(b) Relationship to any of the trustees. 

(c) Circumstances under which the contract is 

made. 

4. What is a legal school month in this State ? 

5. Which are the legal holidays in this State ? 

6. Can debts or notes due third parties — either of 
the three trustees, for instance, — be ofiset against the 
teacher's wages ? 

The Teacher's Authority : 

7. State in general terms how the law regards the 
infliction of corporal punishment. 

8. State the school law of this State regarding re- 
ligious exercises in public schools. 

9. Can a teacher expel a pupil from school ? 

10. What legal remedy has the teacher against an 



xii SECOND STATE EXAMINATION, 

expelled or suspended pupil who refuses to leave a 
building ? 

11. What legal remedy has the teacher against a 
parent who interferes in school hours with his man- 
agement of the school ? 



BOOK-KEEPINa. 

1. What is the object of Book-keeping ? 

2. Define — and describe, by writing a sample page : 

(a) Day-book. 

(h) Ledger. 

(c) Cash-book. 

{d) Alphabet, or Index. 

3. Define, and illustrate by some simple commer- 
cial transaction what is meant by : 

{a) Single Entry Book-keeping. 
(&) Double Entry Book-keeping. 



GEOaRAPHY— One Hour. 

1. What is Physical Geography ? 

2. What is Political Geography ? 

3. What is Astronomical Geography ? 

4. Is the statement exactly true that the earth is 
a sphere ; if not, why not ? 

5. Describe the position of the tropics upon the 
globe. 

6. Through what countries in Europe does that 
parallel of latitude run which passes through the city 
of New York ? 

7. Name, in their order, the seas through which 
one would pass in taking the shortest practicable 
route from London to Bombay. 

8. Name, in their order, the States and Territories 
through which one would pass in going by railway 
from Albany to San Francisco. 



SYRACUSE, MARCH 33, 1876. xiil 

9. In what direction do the main mountain ranges 
of Em-ope and Asia run ? 

10. In what direction do the mountain ranges of 
America run ? 

11. The Rivers Rhine and Rhone, which is the 
French and which is the German river : which runs 
north and which runs south ? 

12. In what direction from Paris is Havre ? 

13. In what direction from Rome is Venice ? 

14. Glasgow and Edinburgh — which is on the east 
and which is on the west side of Scotland ? 

15. Give, within a hundred miles, the length of 
Italy. 

16. How does Lake Superior compare in area with 
England ? 

17. Name a navigable river of large size, wholly in 
one of our Southern States, which runs north. 

18. On what two rivers is Charleston situated ? 



ALGEBRA— One Hour. 

1. Discuss the subjects of Algebraic Signs and 
Quantities — under Definitions and Notation, 

2. Fractions : Give definitions of Terms, and of 
the Real and Apparent Signs ; from examples 
wrought, deduce the general principles of Opera- 
tion ; discuss the different cases of Reduction. 

3. Simple Equations containing two or more un- 
known quantities : discuss, and illustrate by exam- 
ples, the subject of Elimination by Substitution, by 
Comparison, by Addition and Subtraction. 

4. Multiply i^a by V^. 

b X 

5. Quadratic Equations containing one unknown 
quantity : define Pure and Affected Quadratics : dis- 
cuss the method of Completing the Square. 



xiv SECOND STATE EXAMINATION, 

6. Arithmetical Progression: develop and in- 
terpret the formulas for the Last Term, and for the 
Sum of the Series. 

7. Demonstrate: "If your quantities be in pro- 
portion, the like powers or roots of the same quanti- 
ties will be in proportion." 



GEOMETRY— One Hour. 

1. What is a parellelogram ? 

2. When are quantities in proportion by composi- 
tion? 

3. Why must all radii of the same circle be equal ? 

4. State four conditions under which triangles are 
similar. 

5. Demonstrate the theorem: — "In an isosceles 
triangle the angles opposite the equal sides are 
equal." 

6. Demonstrate the theorem : — " If a line be drawn 
parallel to the base of a triangle, it will divide the 
other two sides proportionally." 

7. Demonstrate the theorem : — " An angle at the 
circumference is measured by half the arc which sub- 
tends it." 

8. Find the area of a trapezoid whose parallel sides 
are 6 feet and 10 feet, and whose altitude is 5 feet : 
and state the principle involved. 

9. Eind the area of a circle whose diameter is 10 
feet; and state the principle involved. 



LATIN— One Hour. 

1. What Latin grammar have you studied ? What 
grammar do you prefer to use in teaching, and why ? 

2. What authors have you read ? 

3. Name three Latin poets and the works of each, 



SYRACUSE, MARCH 33, 1876. xv 

4. What are the chief characteristics of Caesar's 
style ? 

5. Translate Gallic war, book 1, paragraph 6. 

6. What syntactical pecuharity do you remark in 
the first sentence of this paragraph ? 

7. Account for the mode of possent. 

8. Account for the mode of ducerentur. 

9. Account for the mode of viderentur. 

10. What would be the meaning of the sentence 
containing viderentur if this verb were in the indica- 
tive mode ? 

11. Compare dijicilis. 

12. Compare extremum. 

. 13. Grive the derivation of iter, 

14. Give the derivation of altus. 

15. Grive the derivation of paco, 

16. Decline locus. 

17. Account for the case oifinihus. 

18. Account for the case of Allohrogibus. 

19. Account for the case of rehus. 

20. Explain the Roman method of designating 
days of the month. 



xvl THIRD STATE EXAMINATION, 

Third Examination for State Certificates, 

Held simultaneously, March 23, 24, 1877, at 

Albany, TJtioa, Kochester, Buffalo, Potsdam, 
Elmira, and New York City. 

Forty-five Candidates Entered — Twenty-one Suc- 
cessful : 

At Albany, (6 entered.) 

Otis H. Babbitt, Otego. 

John Johnston, Troy. 
■ Byron Mansfield, New Baltimore. 

Thomas O'Brien, North Albany. 

Emma Wygant, Albany. 
At Utica, (7 entered.) 

C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse. 

George G-riffith, Clinton. 

Margaret E. Leech, Fayetteville. 

Byron E. Sheer, ClayviUe. 
At Rochester, (12 entered.) 

Chauncey Brainard, Pittsford. 

G-RAHAM B. Bristol, Churchville. 

Wm. W. Oillis, W. Bloomfield. 

Erancis D. B[odgson, Penn Yan. 

Phebe Pratt, Webster. 

Paraclete Sheldon, Eochester. 
At Buffalo, (1 entered.) 

Unsuccessful. 
At Potsdam, (1 applied.) 

Ineligible : not examined. 
At Elmira, (10 entered.) 

Silas Gt. Burdick, Andover. 

Jas. T. McCullom, New Lisbon. 
At New York City, (9 entered.) 

Patrick J. Graham, Brooklyn. 

Henry J. Heidniss, New York. 

J. Albert Eeinhart, Westchester. 



ALBANY, UTICA, ETC., MARCH 23, 24, 1877. xvll 

ARITHMETIC— One Hour and a Half. 

1. Find the least common multiple of 9, 30, 36, 
48, 72, and explain the operation. 

2. Divide f by -|-, and explain the operation. 

3. Give the standard units of linear measure in the 
United States and in France, and explain the mode 
of determining each. 

4. Explain the difference between Troy weight, 
avoirdupois weight and apothecaries weight; and 
show how avoirdupois ounces may be converted into 
ounces Troy, and apothecaries. 

5. A commission merchant in London buys goods 
for me at 2f per cent, commission. How much 
money must I send him that his commission may be 
$50? 

6. State the rule which prevails in this State for 
computing interest on notes and other obligations 
when partial payments have been made, 

7. Extract the cube root of 45876321. 

8. Demonstrate a rule for finding the sum of a 
geometrical series. 



ALGEBRA— One Hour. 

1. Multiply 3a®6*c° by --5a*¥c^ and explain the 
operation. 

2. Determine the value of 8°. 

3. Find the least common multiple of mx—nx, 
m^ — n"^ and mW. 

4. Find the value of x in the equation, 

X 3 + 2rB _ 

2 a~~ ~ ^' 

5. Reduce Vl28aWx to its simplest form, and 
state the principle employed. 

6. " Complete the square " (without clearing of 



xvlil THIRD STATE EXAMINATION, 

fractions) in the equation — + 3aj = — 5, and ex- 
plain the operation. 

7. Find the values of x and y in the equations, 
X — «/ = 3 and x^ — y"^ = 117. 

8. Derive the formula for finding the last term of 
a Greometrical Progression. 



aEOMETRY— One Hour. 

1. Define a, plane, a iplaine Jigure, a circle. 

2. Describe under their appropriate names, the 
different forms of a quadrilateral. 

3. Find the square of a side of a triangle opposite 
an acute angle, in terms of the squares of the other 
two sides and a rectangle on one of them, 

4. Explain the several steps taken in finding the 
approximate area of a circle. 

5. Explain the mode of reasoning called the re- 
ductio ad ahsurdum, as used in geometry. 

6. What is meant by the method of exhaustions f 



C^SAR— One Hour. 

[To he answered instead of the Questions in Geome- 
try, if prefered by the Candidate.] 

[Number and letter your answers to correspond to 
the questions. In handing in your paper state to the 
committee how much Latin you have read.] 

I. Translate into idiomatic English, which shall 
still indicate, as far as possible, the Latin construc- 
tion: 

Cum tridui viam processisset, nunciatum est ei, 
Ariovistum cum suis omnibus copiis ad occupandum 
Yesontionem, quod est oppidum maximum Sequan- 
orum, contendere, triduique viam a suis finibus pro- 
fecisse. Id ne accideret, magno opere sibi praecaven- 



ALBANY, UTICA, ETC., MARCH 33, 34, 1877. xlx 

dum Caesar existimabat: namque omnium rerum, 
quae ad bellum usui erant, summa erat in eo oppido 
f acultas : idque natura loci sic muniebatur, ut mag- 
nam ad ducendum bellum daret facultatem, propterea 
quod flumen Dubis, ut circino circumductum, pasne 
totum oppidum cingit. 

1. Grive the nominative singular, the declension, 
and the person, gender, number, case, and rule (or 
principle) for the government of each of the follow- 
ing nouns : (a) viam, (b) Ariovistum^ (c) copiis^ (d) 
Vesontionem, (e) usui, (/) natura, and (g) loci. 

2. Write the principal parts of (a) processisset, (b) 
nunciatum est, (c) contendere^ (d) profecisse, (e) mu- 
niebatur, (g) cingit. 

3. What is the subject of nunciatum est? Explain 
fully. 

4. Eule for (or principle governing) the mood of 
(a) processisset, (b) contendere, (c) accideret, (d) daret, 
(e) cingit. 

5. How many uses of cum (quum) can you name ? 
Construction with each ? 

6. How many constructions for clauses expressing 
purpose can you specify ? 

7. Difference in meaning between quod (to assign 
a cause or reason) with the indicative and with the 
subjunctive. 

8. Parse tridui, Hne 1. Sibi, line 3. 

9. Rule (or principle) for the sequence (or depend- 
ence) of tenses in Latin ? Give one or more illustra- 
tions from the passage above. 

10. Compare the two adjectives found in the su- 
perlative, in this passage. Rules for the comparison 
of adjectives in -er and -lis. 

11. Composition or derivation of (a) accideret, (b) 
facultas, (c) tridui, (d) propterea, (e) profecisse. Ac- 
count for change of stem-vowel in the present of 
the last compound. 



XX - THIRD STATE EXAMINATION, 

12. Select from the passage a noun formed from 
an adjective by the addition of a "nominal-ending." 
What is the force, in the noun you have selected, of 
this ending used in forming nouns ? Give other end- 
ings which have the same force. 

II. Translate into Latin the following sentences : 

1. Brutus is coming. ( Venio.) 

2. Caesar says that Brutus is coming. 

3. Caesar said that Brutus was coming. 

4. Caesar says that he (Caesar) will come. 

5. I am afraid (yereor) that Caesar will come. 

III, Where is Vesontio ? Its modern name ? Du- 
his — describe its course. Its modern name ? What 
are the Gallic Commentaries ? Sketch briefly, with 
a few dates, the career of Caesar. 



GEOGRAPHY— One Hour. 

Define (1) Latitude, (2) Longitude, (3) Equator, 
(4) Parallels of Latitude, (5) Meridians, (6) Tropics, 
(7) Polar Circles. 

8. For what useful purpose are the Equator, Par- 
allels and Meridians employed ? 

9. What determines the position of the Tropics 
and Polar Circles ? 

10. What is the highest Latitude, and what is the 
greatest Longitude a place can have, and (11) why ? 

12-16. Across which grand divisions and oceans 
does the Equator pass ? 

17-25. Name the grand divisions, oceans and seas 
that are traversed by the Meridian of Greenwich and 
its opposite Meridian, considered together as a great 
circle. 

26. Where does the Meridian of Greenwich inter- 
sect the Equator ? (Indicate the locality by descrip- 
tion or name, without reference to degrees of Lati- 
tude or Longitude.) 



ALBANY, UTICA, ETC., MARCH 23, 34, 187T. xxl 

27. Which Meridian forms the eastern boundary 
of the Western Hemisphere ? 

28. What is the Longitude of its western bound- 
ary ? 

29. State the two principal causes that co-operate 
to produce the changes of the seasons ? 

30. Grive the Latitude of the Polar Circles. 

31. Which Zone contains the largest proportional 
amount of land surface ? 

32. Which the largest proportional amount of 
water surface ? 

33. In which does the most rain fall during the 
year? 

34. In which is found the highest civiHzation ? 

35. Which one of the five races of men is the most 
enlightened and powerful ? 

36. Bound the State of New York. 

37. What is the general direction (as to points of 
compass) of its watershed ? 

38. Name the oceanic guKs and bays to which its 
streams are tributary. (2 gulfs, and 3 bays.) 

39. Which has the higher latitude, the City of New 
York, or the City of Paris ? 

40. Mention one or more of the coast conditions 
favorable to maritime commerce ? 

41 Mention one or more of the natural conditions, 
and one or more of the artificial advantages favorable 
to inland commerce. 

42 In what direction is the eastern continent 
longest ? and (43) the western continent ? 

44. In which grand division are found the ex- 
tremes of surface elevation and depression ? 

45. Name the largest inland sea that has no outlet. 
In what direction from Calcutta is (46) Jeddo? 

(47) Melbourne ? (48) Cape Town ? (49) St. Peters- 
burg? 



xxii THIRD STATE EXAMINATION, 

50. How many degrees of longitude intervene be- 
tween the meridians of Grreenwich and Washing-ton ? 



GRAMMAR — One Hour and a Half. 

1. Define (a) orthography; (b) etymology. 

2. Distinguish between derivative and compound 
words, and illustrate. 

■ 3. State the rules which govern the spelling of (a) 
acquitting^ (b) changeable, (c) judgment. 

4. Write words in which w and y shall be (a) 
vowels, (6) consonants. 

5. Write sentences containing better used as (a) an 
adjective, (b) an adverb. 

6. Compare the adjective of which last is the su- 
perlative. 

7. Write sentences in which each of the three 
forms above shall be correctly used. 

8. To what classes of words (parts of speech) can 
but be referred ? 

9. Write the plural of analysis, cargo, canto, talis- 
man, alkali, seraph, sheaf, handfal, Mr. Smith, valley, 
music. 

10. What are (a) the classes, (6) the modifications 
of pronouns ? 

11. Decline (a) it, (b) the relative pronoun which 
refers indifferently to persons, animals and things. 

12. Compare happy, far, forth, title, full, blue. 

13. (a) Define an auxiliary verb, (6) give a list of 
verbs commonly used as auxiliaries. 

14. Grive the principal parts of each of the above 
verbs ; and state the mood, tense or form of conju- 
gation which each serves to determine. 

15. Give the principal parts of lie, say, dally, jockey, 
climb, singe, traffic, dye. 

16. Write the verb go in the third person singular 
of (a) the present emphatic, (6) the simple future, (c) 
th6 future expressing determination. 



ALBANY, UTICA, ETC., MARCH 23, 34, 1877. xxlil 

17. What moods may take the interrogative form ? 

18. Why is the following sentence incorrect? 
" To better understand the laws of one's country 
should be the constant aim of all." 

19. Analyze the above sentence according to any 
recognized method. 

20. Parse {a) one's (b) all (c) aim (gi-«ing the syn- 
tax of each word.) 

21. (a) Correct : " Four year's lease of power have 
fallen to his lot." (6) State the reason, (c) Parse 
four. 

22. (a) Correct : *' Whom do you fancy could wish 
to be more happy than her." (6) Parse each word 
corrected. 

23. What verbs are followed by the infinitive 
Tz-ithout the preposition to ? 

24. (a) Correct , " May we not fail to do better in 
the future than we have in the past." (b) Grive 
reason. 

25. Mention the phrases in the above sentence and 
the words which they severally modify. 



RHETORIC. 

1. Discriminate between G-rammar and Rhetoric. 

2. How should an Oration differ from an Essay ? 

3. What do you understand by Rhetorical Defini- 
tion ; and in what respects are definitions frequently 
defective ? 

4. What degree of validity attaches to Probable 
as compared with Demonstrative reasoning ? 

5. How may the feehngs of an audience be moved 
by a speaker? 

6. What degree of importance attaches to Natur- 
alness of Style ; and how is Naturalness consistent 
with the use of Literary Models ? 



xxiv THIRD STATE EXAMINATION, 

7. State in the order of relative importance the 
properties essential to all good style. 

8. What is essential with referenc^ to clearness in 
respect to : (1) The Speaker's conception ? (2) The 
words employed ? (3) The grammatical construc- 
tion ? (4) The arrangement ? (5) Amplification ? 
(6) Illustration? 

9. Grive an original illustration of : (1) Simile. (2) 
Metaphor. (3) Metonymy. (4) Synecdoche. (5) 
Personification. 



LITERATURE. 

1. Give a definition of Literature. 

2. Describe the dififerent departments into which 
Modern Literature may be divided, and name some 
of the leading English and American authors in each 
department. 

3. Explain wherein Poetry difiers from Prose. 

4. Give some account of Milton's Paradise Lost; 
explaining its subject ; its metre ; and the character 
of the work. 

5. (a) Name the principal English authors of the 
fifteenth century, and state in what department of 
literature each excelled. (&) Give lists of the chief 
works of the following authors, respectively : Chau- 
cer, Milton, Dryden, DeFoe, Addison, Dr. Johnson, 
Fielding, (c) Name the authors and state the nature 
of the following works, respectively : The Task, The 
Dunciad, Tale of a Tub, Adonais, McFingal, She 
Stoops to Conquer, Utopia, Mosses from an Old 
Manse, Essays of Elia, Tristram Shandy, {d) What 
plays of Shakespeare are drawn from EngHsh his- 
tory, and over what period do they extend. 



ALBANY, UTICA, ETC., MARCH 23, 34, 1877. xxv 

AMERICAN HISTORY— One Hour. 

[The ansiuers to questions 3 and 7 will be taken as 
tests of proficiency of English Composition.'] 

1. ISTame, in order of succession, the Presidents of 
the United States, and the duration of service of 
those who held office more or less than one term. 

2. Grive, with dates, the names, and causes of the 
chief wars in which the United States have taken 
part, both prior to and since the adoption of the 
Constitution. 

3. Grive a brief sketch of the causes that led to the 
Southern Rebellion. Mention the states in the order 
of their secession. 

4. Name the leading battles fought during the late 
war, the generals who commanded on either side, 
and the victorious party. 

5. When and by whom was the Emancipation 
Proclamation signed? 

6. Grive the main features of the fourteenth and 
fifteenth amendments to the Constitution. 

7. Mention the leading spirits in the American 
Revolution, and any characteristic or events connect- 
ed with each. 

8. Grive, approximately, the population of the 
United States. 



GENERAL HISTORY. 

1. Define History. 

2. Grive some account of the cities that were visit- 
ed by Paul, the Apostle. 

3. Into what classes was the population of Athens 
divided, in the time of Pericles ? 

4. Describe the government of the Modern Grreeks. 

5. What results were secured by the battles of 
Marathon ; of Phillippi ; of Hastings ; of Waterloo ? 



xxvl THIRD STATE EXAMINATION, 

6. Classify the nations of Europe, according to the 
reUgion prevaiHng in each. 

7. Give a brief account of the Crimean War and 
"the Eastern Questions." 



CIYIL GOVERNMENT. 

1. What are the quahfications of the President of 
the United States as defined by the Constitution ? 

2. How may amendments to the Constitution of 
the United States be made ? 

3. State the composition and functions of the 
United States Judiciary Department. 

4. Of what bodies does the Legislature of the 
State of New York consist ? 

5. What are the qualifications of a member in each 
branch ? 

6. What is a tax ? How are taxes levied ? What 
is a capitation or poll tax ? 

7. What is meant by franchise f State the causes 
of disfranchisement. 

8. What is the difference between a grand and a 
petit jury ? 

9. What are usury laws ? The object of their en- 
actment ? 

10. What is meant by the right of eminent domain f 



METHODS. 

1. What do you understand by the term Methods 
as applied to teaching ? 

2. On what principle does the maintenance of or- 
der during class-room instruction chiefly depend ? 

3. What methods would you adopt in introducing 
a subject — grammar for instance — to a class of begin- 
ners? State any principles that underlie these 
methods. 



ALBANY, UTICA, ETC., MARCH 23, 24, 1877. xxvU 

4. State some of the methods to be employed in 
making class-room instruction familiar. 

5. Mention a few of the axioms that are to be 
found in the writings or teachings of leading educa- 
tional reformers. 

6. What is the proper place of the text-book in 
the class-room, and by what methods is its use to be 
supplemented by the teacher ? 

7. What is the value of repetition in teaching, and 
by what rule or rules is its employment to be hmited ? 



SCHOOL ECONOMY. 

1. Should a School be managed with the primary 
object of following a strict course of study and mak- 
ing a strong institution, or giving individual pupils 
the best chance for themselves ? 

2. How would you arrange the pupils of an un- 
graded school into classes ? 

3. What subjects would you advise an ordinary 
boy or girl of fourteen years of age, in a winter 
school, to study ? 

4. What faculties of the mind would you design 
to exercise in the study of G-eography ? What other 
result than such exercise would you expect ? 

5. What time, as compared to that allotted to 
Arithmetic, would you give to the highest class in 
Reading ? 

6. What School work would you give with special 
reference to forming and fixing the habit of writing 
correct English ? 

7. Would you consider it worth while to give any 
attention to incorrect habits of speech ? If so, what 
would you do ? 

8. What objects would you design to secure by 
recitations ? 



xxvlii THIRD STATE EXAMINATION, 

9. What would guide you in assigning lessons to 
a class ? 

10. What would you do if your class should have 
as many different text-books in Arithmetic as there 
are pupils ? 

11. Do you approve of School Exhibitions ? If so, 
what good results would you expect from them ? If 
not, what objections to them do you make ? 

12. What are the Teacher's duties, if any, at recess 
and at dismissal? 

13. What has the Teacher to do with the " man- 
ners " of his pupils ? 

14. How would you deal with lying, or any other 
form of deception ? 

15. What would you do with a pupil who occa- 
sionally neglects his lessons ? With one who habitu- 
ally does so ? 

16. What habits, useful in future life, would you 
wish all school exercises to assist in forming ? 

17. What would determine you whether or not 
to open or close school with any form of religious 
service ? 

18. Would you have a code of rules and regula- 
tions in any school ? Why ? 

19. Of what do you suppose authority, or " gov- 
ernment," in school to consist? 

20. If you are Principal of a school, what are your 
duties as such to your Assistants ? If you are an 
Assistant, what are your duties as such to your 
Principal ? 



SCHOOL LAW. 

1. State the different systems of school supervision 
which have been successively adopted, and describe 
that now in operation. 



ALBANY, UTICA, ETC., MARCH 23, 34, 1877. xxtx 

2. In what year was the present Free School Act 
passed, and when did it go into operation ? 

3. What pupils are entitled to free tuition ? 

4. State the legal requirements to entitle a district 
to participate in the regular annual apportionment of 
school moneys. 

5. When and where must the annual school meet- 
ing in each district be held ? 

6. May trustees disregard the vote of a district 
meeting limiting the choice of teachers, their salary 
and term of service ? 

7. Is a school district liable for the wages of an 
unlicensed teacher ; may the public moneys be paid, 
and can a district tax be enforced for such a purpose ? 

8. How shall the trustees pay the wages of a 
hcensed teacher, which are due, without the vote of 
a district meeting ? 

9. In whom is the authority vested to regulate the 
attendance of pupils, the course of study, the selec- 
tion of text-books, and the general management of 
the school? 

10. Who are authorized to license teachers, and 
what is the extent of their powers, respectively ? 

11. What legal evidence of qualification must a 
teacher of public schools possess ? 

12. What is the legal provision for the attendance 
of teachers upon the teachers' institute of their 
county, during term time ? 



XXX FO UR TH ST A TE EXAMINA TION, 

Fourth Examination for State Certificates, 

Held simultaneously^ Dec. 20, 21, 1877, at 

The Eight State Normal Schools and at the New 
York City Normal College. 

Eleven Successful Candidates : 

At Albany. 

Frank S. Hotaling, Albany, Albany Co. 

Hugh Kelso, Stuyvesant, Columbia Co. 
At Cortland. 

Charles Melville Bean, McG-rawville, Cortland 
Co. 

George V. Chapin, Chapinville, Ontario Co. 

Henry Homer Hutton, Waverly, Tioga Co. 
At Fredonia. 

Agnes S. Brown, Yersailles, Cattaraugus Co. 
At New York City. 

Neely Anderson, Brooklyn, Kings Co 

James S. Eaton, Chester, Orange Co. 

J. H. Haaren, New York City. 

William S. Pelletreau, Southampton, Suffolk Co. 

Mary W. Plumer, New York City. 



ARITHMETIC— Two Hours. 

1. Multiply 876 by 429 and explain the operation. 

2. Derive rule for multiplication of common frac- 
tions. 

3. Reduce f, |-, .13, 1.7 to equivalent fractions 
having the common denominator 33. 

4. How does adding the same number to both 
terms of a proper fraction affect its value ? 

5. Divide .04 by .0002 and explain the operation. 



STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS, DEC. ?0, 21, 1877. xxxl 

6. Reduce the circulating decimal .0486 to a com- 
mon fraction. 

7. New York is in latitude 40° 42' K, longitude 
74° W.: the city of Mexico is in latitude 19° 25' 
N., longitude 103° 45' W. : when it is 11 a. m. at 
New York, what is it at Mexico ? 

8. Prove, " In any proportion the product of the 
extremes is equal to the product of the means." 

9. |- per cent, of \ is what per cent, of 100 ? 

10. What are " days of grace," and on what are 
they allowed in the State of New York ? 

11. 5 per cent, bonds are bought at 90 per cent., 
what is the rate of income on the investment ? 

12. What is the value in gold of the currency 
dollar, when gold is at 105 per cent. ? 

13. When gold is at 103 per .cent, and exchange 
at 485, what is the cost, in currency, at New York, 
of a Bill of Exchange on London for £50 ? 

14. Derive rule for extracting the cubic root of 
integers. 

15. What is the "Metric System," and what are 
its peculiar merits ? 

16. Name its principal units and tell their uses. 



ALaEBRA— Two Hours. 

1. G-ive the laws for coefficients, exponents, and 
signs in multiplication, and give your method of ex- 
plaining law of signs, with illustrations. 

2. Grive principles used in finding greatest common 
divisor, when the quantities are not easily factored, 
and find the greatest common divisor of Qx^ + x^ — 
44£c + 21 and Occ"— 26x' + 46ic— 42. 

3. Explain the force of zero used as an exponent, 
and determine value of a°. 



xxxii FO UE TH ST A TE EXAMINA TION, 

4. Find the value of x in the equation 

a-\-x c — X a 

~b d~^h 

and give reason for each transformation. 

5. Grive two methods of ehmination in equations 

of two or more unknown quantities, illustrate each 

with example, and explain steps. 
1 1. 

6. Divide {ax^)^hj {xyy , and explain the opera- 
tion. 

7. " Complete the square " (without clearing of 

fractions) in the equation, -Jq4-?^="5" ^^^^ explain 

operation. 

8. Find the values of x and y in the proportions, 

x:y::x + y:^2 
x'.yv. X — y : 6 

9. Find the values of x and y in the equations, 

\ CC+ Vxy=a / 

^ y-\- )fxy-=.'h 3 

10. Derive the formula for finding the last term 
of a Q-eometrical Progression. 



PLANE (iEOMETRY— One Hour and a Half. 

1. To what class of subjects does Geometry be- 
long? State the object contemplated by the class, 
and show how Geometry difters from the other 
branches as to object-matter. 

2. Construct an equilateral triangle whose altitude 
shall be equal to the line : . 

3. B H is drawn bisecting the exterior angle C B G 
of the triangle ABC. B D is drawn bisecting the 
angle ABC and meeting A C at D. D K is drawn 
parallel to A B, cutting B C at E and meeting B H 
at K ; show that D E is equal to E K. 



STATE K0E3IAL SCHOOLS, DEC. 20, 21, 1877. xxxlil 

4. Which term : equal^ equivalent^ or similar ^ im- 
plies the most respecting two figures ? What prop- 
erty imphed by this term ; not impUed (a) by the 
first of the other two ? (b) by the second ? 

5. Mention four hypotheses regarding two fines, 
from which they can be proved parallel. 

6. Two triangles have their homologous sides pro- 
portional: show that they are similar. 

7. Indicate the steps which you would ordinarily 
take in the solution of a geometrical problem. 

8. Within a given circle inscribe a regular decagon. 



CJESAR DE BELLO GALLICO— One Hour 
AND A Half. 

How much Latin have you read ? 

I. Translate into English : 

Quibus rebus cognitis quum ad has suspiciones cer- 
tissimas res accederent, quod per fines Sequanorum 
Helvetios transduxisset, quod obsides inter eos dan- 
dos curasset, quod ea omnia non modo injussu suo et 
civitatis, sed etiam inscientibus ipsis fecissit, quod a 
magistratu -^duorum accusaretur : satis esse causee 
arbitrabatur, quare in eum aut ipse animadverteret, 
aut civitatem animadvertere juberet. His omnibus 
rebus unum repugnabat, quod Divitiaci fratris sum- 
mum in populum Romanum studium, summam in se 
voluntatem, egregiam fidem, justitiam, temperantam 
cognoverat : nam, ne ejus supplicio Divitiaci animum 
offenderet, verebatur Itaque priusquam quidquam 
conaretur, Divitiacum ad se vocari jubet et, quotidi- 
anis interpretibus remotis, per Caium Valerium Pro- 
cillum, principem Galliae provincite, familiarem suum, 
cui summam omnium rerum fidem habebat, cum eo 
colloquitur : simul commonefacit, quae ipso prsesente 
in concilio GaUorum de Dumuorige sint dicta, et os- 
tendit, quse separatim quisque de eo apud se dixerit : 



xxxiv FO UR TH ST A TE EXAMINA TION, 

petit atque hoFtatur, ut sine ejus offensione animi vel 
ipse de eo, causa cognita, statuat, vel civitatem stat- 
uere jubeat. 

1. Analyze the first sentence by any system you 
know. 

2. Decline [a) the first five nouns, (6) the first 
three pronouns, (c) the first two adjectives, 

3. Grive the principal parts of the first five verbs, 
and explain their formation. 

4. Give a complete synopsis of any verb in the 
extract. 

5. Analyze the first ten verbs into stem, tense- 
sign, etc. 

6. Give the laws for euphonic changes in Latin as 
far as you can, and illustrate each law by an appro- 
priate example. 

7. What is the expression quihus rebus cognitis 
called ? How many forms are there for such con- 
structions in Latin ? In what ways may such ex- 
pressions be best rendered into English ? 

8. Give the office of each subordinate clause after 
the first sentence. Give the use of quum and the 
modes and tenses used in each instance. 

9. Name the clauses in the extract that express 
purpose. 

10. What conjunctions are used- to introduce 
clauses expressing purpose? 

11. Give and illustrate the various ways in which 
purpose is expressed in Latin. 

12. What other uses has ut besides that of ex- 
pressing purpose ? Illustrate these uses by Latin 
sentences. 

13. Give an explanation or rule for all the sub- 
junctive forms in the selection. 

14. Give definite rules for rendering the Latin 
subjunctive into idiomatic English. 

15. Name the classes of verbs that require (a) an 



STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS, DEC. 20, 31, 18T7. xxxv 

ut clause as an object, (&) an infinitive with a subject 
accusative as an object, 
II. 16. Render into Latin : 

(1) Cicero, the orator, was a great man. 

(2) Cicero ordered Catiline to go into exile (ire in 
exilium). 

(3) They praised him on account of his bravery. 

(4) After the general was killed, I came to the 
city. 



aEOaRAPHY— One Hour. 

1. What do you understand by Mathematical 
Geography ? 

2. What by Physical G-eography ? 

3. What by Political Geography ? 

4. What by Descriptive Geography? 
6. What by Local Geography ? 

6. How many States in the United States ? Name 
them. Group them into divisions, as ordinarily given. 

7. Name all of the Territories in the United 
States. 

8. Name the " great lakes " which are between 
the United States and the Canadas. 

9. Which is the largest City in the United States ? 
State its population, describe its location, and tell for 
what it is noted. 

10. Name the River Systems of North America, 
and state the portions of country drained by each. 

11. Name the Mountain Systems of Asia. 

12. Name the countries of Europe which are now 
(Dec, 1877,) engaged in war, and also those which 
are especially interested in the results of the war, 
giving reasons for the answers submitted. 

(a) How much time should each pupil spend upon 

the subject of Geography in a common school course ? 

(&) What pieces of apparatus, as maps, etc., do 



xxxvi FO UE TH STA TE EXA^flNA TION, 

you consider essential for the school-room when 
teaching Geography ? 

(c) State the general divisions which you are ac- 
customed to make of Greography, when presenting 
the subject. 

{d) State the general plan which you follow when 
teaching advanced classes in Geography. 

(e) How do you begin the subject of Geography 
with primary classes ? Mention the successive steps 
in the subject-matter, and in the mode of presenting 
it. Outline the first year's course for the pupils. 

GRAMMAR AND ANALYSIS— Two Hours. 

1. Define verb and participle, and state the differ- 
ence. 

2. Define voice. 

3. Do intransitive verbs have voice ? 

4. How is the passive voice formed ? 

5. What do you say of the verb to he with respect 
to voice ? 

6. Write a sentence whose predicate is composed 
of a copula and attribute. 

7. Write a sentence whose verb is a copulative 
verb. 

8. Write a sentence whose verb is attributive. 

9. Is the verb to he ever an attributive verb ? If 
so, write a sentence containing it. 

10. Is the verb in the sentence the lesson has heen 
learned, transitive ? Explain. 

11. Give all the forms you know of the first per- 
son singular, indicative mode, present perfect tense, 
of the verb strike. 

12. Write a sentence containing a verb in the im- 
perative mode, passive voice. 

13. Write all the tenses of the infinitive mode, in 
both voices, of the verb lead. 



STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS, DEC. 20, 21, 1877. xxxvli 

14. In what mode is the phrase, if I should he 
there f 

15. In what mode is the sentence, perhaps^ I shall 
go? 

16. What tense should you call the verb in the 
sentence, / am going to-mo7Tow ? What tense is it, 
really ? 

17. What does the sentence, if I had a dollar^ 1 
would give it to you^ mean as to (1) having a doUar, 
and as to (2) giving it to you ? 

18. The same with the sentence, if I have a dollar^ 
I will give it to you. 

19. Distinguish between regular and irregular 
verbs. 

20. Is the verb, to hear, regular or irregular? 

21. Which are the auxiliary verbs? 

22. Have they any tenses of their own? if so, 
what? 

23. Are they ever used as principal verbs ? if so, 
write sentences to show this use. 

24. In parsing or analyzing, how do you dispose 
of ought and to go, in the sentence / ought to go ? 

25. How is the manner of action or being ex- 
pressed ? 

(1) " To these gifts of nature Napoleon added the 
advantage of having been born to a private and 
humble fortune. (2) In his later days he had the 
weakness of wishing to add to his crown and badges 
the prescription of aristocracy; but he knew his 
debt to his austere education, and made no secret of 
his contempt for born kings." 

26. Describe each sentence as a whole, giving 
propositions with connectives. 

27. Mention, in order, the verbs in the extract, 
giving the voice, mode and tense of each. 

28. Mention the participial nouns and their con- 
struction. 



xxxviii FO TJB TH ST A TE EXAMINA TION, 

29. Give tlie direct objects of the verbs and parti- 
ciples. 

30. Give the indirect objects. 

31. In (1) parse tliese and private. 

32. In (2) parse the first his and bom. 

33. What does in his late?' days modify ? 

34. Wliat weakness is the weakness ? 

35. Give construction of to add. 

"I fear thee, ancient mariner: 
I fear thy skinny hand ; 
And thou art long and lank and brown 
As is the ribbed sea-sand." 

36. Analyze the above. 

37. Between what two objects is a comparison 
made in the third and fourth lines, and in respect to 
what ? 

38. There is an ellipsis in the last line; supply it 
in full. 

39. Parse mariner. 

40. Parse as. 

" I long for household voices gone ; 
For vanished smiles I long; 
But God hath led my dear ones on, 
And He can do no wrong." 

41. Analyze the above without separating complex 
subordinate elements. 

42. Parse for in the second line. 

43. Parse hath led. 

44. Expand gone into a subordinate clause. 

45. Analyze the following, not separating complex 
subordinate elements : 

" For I have learned 
To look on Nature, not as in the hour 
Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes 
The still sad music of humanity ; 
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power, 
To chasten and subdue." 



STATE NOBMAL SCHOOLS, DEC. 30, 31, 1877. xxxix 

ENGLISH COMPOSITION— One Hour. 

1. Give the general rules for the use of capital 
letters, with appropriate illustrations. 

2. Give the general rules for the punctuation of 
sentences, with appropriate illustrations. 

3. Copy the following extract, punctuate it prop- 
erly, and correct any mistakes in either punctuation 
or capitals : 

'' Early one morning they came to the Estate of a 
wealthy farmer they found him standing before the 
stable; and heard as they drew near that he was 
scolding one of his men because he had left the 
ropes, with which they tied their horses in the rain 
all night, instead of putting them away in a dry 
place Ah We shall get very little here said one to 
the other that man is very close we will at least try 
said another And they approached." 

4. Combine the following groups of statements 
into one simple or complex sentence. Give more 
than one form for each. State which form you pre- 
fer, and why you prefer it. 

(a) Sugar is a sweet crystallized substance. It is 
obtained from the juice of the sugar cane. 

The sugar cane is a reed-like plant growing in 
most hot climates. 

It is supposed to be originally a native of the East. 

(&) In the Olympic games, the only reward was a 
wreath of wild olive. 

The Olympic games were regarded as the most 
honorable contests. 

They were so regarded because they were sacred 
to Jupiter. 

They were so regarded, also, because they were 
instituted by the early Greek heroes. 

5. Change the following expressions from the 
common to the rhetorical style : 



Xl FO UB TH 8TA TE EXAMINA TION, 

(a) Diana of the Ephesians is great. 

(h) Thy dying eyes were closed by foreign hands. 

(c) They cUmb the distant mountain slowly and 
sadly, and read their doom in the setting sun. 

(d) I shall attempt neither to pallitate nor to deny 
the crime of being a young man, 

6, Write, in proper form, a letter making applica- 
tion for a position as a teacher in a union school, and 
give proper references. 

7. Write a composition of not more than three 
hundred words upon " Curiosity," and give, also, the 
analytical outline upon which your composition is 
written. 



READING— One Hour. 

1. Name the different methods by which a child 
entirely unacquainted with reading may be taught 
it. Which of these methods do you prefer, and 
why? 

2. Name such physical rules as you think should 
be observed while reading. State the physical con- 
sequences of violating them. 

3. Give a tabular view of the classes and sub- 
classes of the elementery sounds of the English 
language. Define the great classes. 

4. Define phonic spelling. State its advantages. 
Mark according to Webster or Worcester the follow- 
ing words for pronunciation: — Christmas, tuneful, 
corn, cooling. 

5. Give the different ways of emphasizing words. 
Name the various inflections. Give examples of 
each with appropriate marks. 

6. What directions would you give classes with 
regard to marks of punctuation in reading ? 

7. Give, in the order you would put them, ten 
questions which you would ask pupils who were to 



STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS, DEC. 20, 31, 1877. xll 

read Warren's Address, p. 128, Randall's Reading 
and Elocution. 

8. Carefully look over the selection entitled, " Re- 
marks on Reading," found on p. 374, Randall's Read- 
ing and Elocution, and answer the following ques- 
tions based on the selection : 

Meaning of the words, pendant^ philosopher^ acces- 
sory ? 

What is the end to which all studies may point ? 

Meaning of subservient f 

What evil effects may arise from too long applica- 
tion of the mind to one subject ? Why ? 

State the effects of dividing the attention between 
many subjects. Why? 

What general advice on reading may be given to 
every one ? 



UNITED STATES HISTORY— One Hour. 

1. What country did Columbus expect to find by 
sailing west from Europe ? 

2. XVhy were the inhabitants called Indians? 

3. Why was the country called America ? 

4. Did Columbus land upon or see the main land 
of North America ? 

5. Mention one discoverer from each of these na- 
tions : English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and his 
principal discovery. 

6. By what right did European nations claim dif- 
ferent parts of the country ? 

7. What were the principal colonizing nations, and 
what part of the country did each settle ? 

8. What made the Indians hostile to the settlers ? 

9. What was the point of contest in the French 
and Indians wars ? 

10. How many were there, and by what names 
are they called ? 



xlli FO UR TH ST A TE EXAMINA TION, 

11. By what treaty was the last settled? 

12. What division of territory was made ? 

13. Why did the Indians fight in this war ? On 
which side ? 

14. How was the country governed before the 
revolution ? 

15. How was it governed during the revolution ? 

16. How was it governed immediately after the 
revolution ? 

17. How is it now governed? 

18. What was the population of the colonies at 
the time of the revolution ? 

19. What were the original States ? 

. 20. What battles were fought before the Declara- 
tion of Independence was made ? 

21. What four battles do you regard as most im- 
portant, and why ? 

22. Who were the British commanders-in-chief 
during the war ? 

23. What important battles did the Americans 
lose? 

24. By what treaty was the war ended ? 

25. The most important points in that treaty ? 

26. What were the boundaries granted to the 
United States ? 

27. Mention the first ten Presidents in order, with 
length of service, and State in which each lived. 

28. Menton the first three new States. 

29. What was the " era of good feeling," and who 
was President at the time ? 

30. What purchases of territory have been made ? 

31. Who were the parties in the civil war? 

32. What was the point in contest ? 

33. What States seceded ? 

34. How was the war ended ? 

35. How were the slaves emancipated ? 



STATE NOEMAL SCHOOLS, DEC. 30, 21, 1877. xliii 

WRITma— Half an Hour. 

1. What system have you adopted ? 

2. Give the Elements of the small letters; the 
capitals. Name them, 

3. How do you classify them ? 

4. How do you secure a proper way of holding 
the pen ? 

5. How do you secure accuracy in writing the 
elementary forms, and uniform progress ? 

6. On what principle do you classify the small 
letters ? And write the letters of each class. 

7. On what principle do you classify the capitals ? 
Also write the letters of each class. 

8. How do you conduct a recitation in writing ? 

9. How do you secure legibility ? How does it 
rank in importance ? 

10. How do you secure rapidity ? How does it 
rank with legibility ? 



METHODS— One Hour and a Half. 

1. Name the faculties of the mind. Which of 
these is the most active in childhood ? 

2. In view of this, what should characterize the 
teaching of young children ? 

3. In teaching, what help should the teacher give 
his pupils ? Why ? 

4. State fully the character of the questions that 
should be used in teaching. 

. 5. In teaching, which should precede, ideas or their 
expression ? Why ? 

6. Apply this in teaching ideas of fractions to 
young children. 

7. Apply the same in teaching the spelling of the 
following words : ^^ smiling,'^ ^'■cylindrical.''^ 

8. Define object Define ohjective teaching. 



xliv FO UR TH ST A TE EXAMINA TION, 

9. Through what medium do we gain knowledge 
of external objects ? Through what medium do we 
communicate our knowledge thus gained ? What 
application would you make of this in teaching? 

10. How should the variety of subjects taught in 
a primary school compare with the variety taught in 
a more advanced school ? Why ? 

11. What are the hest aids to memory ? 

12. What use should be made of text books in 
teaching natural sciences ? 

13. State your reasons for having pupils preparing 
to teach, study methods of teaching? 

14. What do you understand by philosophy of edu- 
cation f 

15. Describe the method by which a mental image, 
idea or conception of an object never seen is formed 
in the mind, and discuss the relation of this princi- 
ple to the teaching of geography and history in par- 
ticular^ and to teaching in general. 

16. Discuss briefly the connection between the 
power to use language, and a knowledge of the 
science of language. 

17. What conditions of age and power to think 
do you consider necessary that a pupil may pursue 
the study of the science of language efficiently ? 

18. Which should precede, rules, definitions and 
classifications, or a knowledge of processes and con- 
crete particulars ? Why ? 



SCHOOL ECONOMY— One Hour and a Half. 

1. State, in their order, the steps you would take 
in organizing, 

(a) A district school with no assistant teachers. 

(h) A village school in which you would have 
three assistant teachers. 



STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS, DEC. 30, 21, 1877. xlv 

2. State what you consider to be the difference 
between a graded and an ungraded school. 

3. Name all the parties that must be regarded in 
the government of a public school, and state the re- 
lation of each party to the others. 

4. What use would you make of oral or written 
examinations, and how would you conduct each ? 

5. Give in outline your plan of government, stating 
in particular : 

(a) The general principles by which you are 

guided. 

(h) Your method of managing whispering, 

(c) Your method of detecting and correcting any 

kind of offense, 

6. Grive your views on self reporting, stating your 
reason for adopting or rejecting this plan, in part or 
in whole, in governing your school. 



Fifth Examination for State Certificates, 

Albany J July 16, 17, 1878 

EXAMINERS: 

Prin. James L. Bothwell, School No. 14, Albany. 

Prof, M. L. Deyo, Albany Academy. 

Prof. Joseph St. John, Albany State Normal School. 

Seventeen Candidates Entered-— Eleven Suc- 
cessful : 

Charles Birdsall, Lloyd, Ulster Co. 
Mary C. Chesbro, Vermilion, Oswego Co. 
Sylvester G-ardner, Fayetteville, Onondaga Co. 
Burr Lewis, Lockport, Niagara Co. 
Levi N. Mogg, Marcellus, Onondaga Co. 



xM FIFTH ST A TE EXAMINA TION, 

Hambly P, Orchard, Oyster Bay, Queens Co. 

W. W. St, John, Rose, Wayne Co. 

Annie M. Spence, Saratoga Springs. 

Mary Trumbull, Sandy Hill, Washington Co. 

W. E. Whitbeck, West Troy, Albany Co. 

Homer A. Wilcox, Mount Vernon, Westchester Co. 



ARITHMETIC— One Hour. 

1. Dej&ne, (a) Prime Number, (&) Compound 
Number, (c) Ratio, {d) Bank Discount. 

2. What factors must the Greatest Common Divi- 
sor of two or more numbers contain ? 

3. A can do a piece of work in 3 days ; B in 4 
days ; C in 7 days. In what time will they do it all 
working together ? 

4. The sum of two numbers is 21^; their differ- 
ence is 7^, what are the numbers ? 

5. Explain why you invert the divisor in Division 
of fractions. 

6. Reduce to a simple decimal .05^^. 

7. Washington is 77° 2' West, New Orleans js 89° 
2' West ; when it is 9 a. m. at New Orleans, what is 
the time at Washington ? 

8. If 40 men can perform a piece of work in 12 
da3'^s, how many men will perform another piece of 
work three times as large in one-fifth of the time ? 
(Solve by proportion.) 

9. A grocer purchased a lot of teas, on which he 
lost 16 per cent, by selling them for $4200. What 
did he pay ? 

10. What is the interest of $45.00 for 12 years, 
27 days, at 6| per cent. ? 

11. Bought land for $10.00 an acre; what must I 
ask for it if I abate 10 per cent, and still make 20 
per cent, on the purchase money ? 

12. Which will yield the larger profit : 8 per cent. 



ALBAJVr, JUL T 16, 17, 1878. xlvll 

stock at a premium of 20 per cent, or 5 per cent, 
stock at a discomit of 20 per cent. 

13. The length of a ladder which will reach from 
the middle of a street 80 feet wide to the eaves of a 
house is 50 feet, what is the height of the house ? 

14. Eequired the Bank Discount on $200 for 30 
days at 7 per cent. 

15. Grive the table for Cubic Measure. 

16. How many cubic inches in a wine gallon? 

17. What is a G-eometrical Progression ? 

18. ^ 4/81.729. 

19. (f)^ + a)^=what? 

20. How many bushels of grain will a bin hold 
that is 8 ft. 5 in. by 2 ft. 6 in. by 6 ft. ? 



ALGEBRA— One Hour. 

1. Define, (a) Algebra, (b) Equation, (c) Radical 
quantity, (d) Polynomial. 

2. Factored'— 1. 

3. Find the G-reatest Common divisor of 3a^b — 
9a^c — ISa^mz^ and 6^c — 3&c^ — Qhcmz. 

4. Show that a''=l. 

11a;— 80 8a;— 5 

5. Given = 0. to final x. 

6 15 

6. (x + yY expand by E'ewton's Binomial Theorem. 

7. Explain the method of completing the square 
and finding the roots of an efi'ected quadratic equa- 
tion. 

8. Show how you may construct a quadratic equa- 
tion when its two roots are given. 

9. Given Vx + 2,a= V2a+ Vx—2a, to final x. 

10. Divide Vf by ' |/|. 



xlviil FIFTH ST A TE EXAMINA TION, 

G-EOMETRY— One Hour. 

1. Define, (a) Geometry, (h) Polygon, (c) Parallel- 
ogram, (d) Trapezoid, (e) Similar Polygons. 

2. Prove that the sum of the interior angles of any 
plane triangle is equal to two right angles. 

3. Prove that the square on the hypothenuse of any 
right angled triangle is equivalent to the sum of the 
squares on the other two sides. 

4. Draw a tangent line to a circle from a given 
point without the circle. 

5. What is the area of a circle having a radius of 
^x feet ? ■ 



LATIN— One Hour. 

1. Give a literal translation of the fourteenth 
chapter, book first, of Ceesar's Commentaries. 

2. Parse dari^ the tenth word in the chapter. 

3. Decline eo, the fifth word in the chapter, and 
give the construction. 

4. Give the principal parts of the first six verbs in 
the chapter, and tell where each is found. 

5. Tell briefly what you know about Csesar. 

6. Translate into Latin : — I came to the city. 



GEOGRAPHY— One Hour. 

' 1. What authority have we for saying that the 
earth is flattened at the Poles ? 

2. Why are latitude and longitude marked in de- 
grees instead of miles ? 

3. The Polar Circles mark the limits of what, be- 
side the Zones ? 

4. What beside the limit of Zones is marked by 
the Tropics? 



ALBANY, JUL Y 16, 17, 1878. xlix 

5. Name the Grand Divisions crossed by the Tropic 
of Cancer. 

6. Which has the longest day now, Albany or 
Quebec ? 

7-8. Grive the latitude and the longitude of the 
geographical centre of the Western Hemisphere. 

9-10. What are the " Trade Winds " and how are 
they caused ? 

11. How many cities in New York? 

12. Name the five largest cities in New York. 

13. Bound New York. 

14. To what river-systems do the rivers in New 
York belong ? 

15. Name the four largest cities in the United 
States. 

16. What are the two principal minerals found in 
New York ? 

17. Name the highest peak of the Alleghany 
Mountains. 

18. Which is the largest of the Western States ? 

19. Name the largest sugar market in the world. 

20. Name the four largest cities in the Southern 
States. 

21-22. What are " Sea Breezes," and how are they 
caused '? 

23. In which Zone are volcanoes most numerous ? 

24-30. Locate, accurately, the following, viz. : 
Pensacola, Milwaukee, Belfast, Berlin, Canton, Ade- 
laide and Trieste. 

31. What season is it now in Eio Janeiro ? 

32. Describe the Amazon Eiver. 

33. Why is the climate in Western Europe milder 
than it is in the same latitude in North America ? 

34. Where is Lapland ? 

35. What mountains between France and Italy ? 

36. Name the four largest cities in Europe. 



FIFTH ST A TE EXAMINA TION, 



37. What countries in Europe have a republican 
form of government ? 

38. What lake in Africa is crossed by the Equator ? 

39. What possessions has France in Africa? 

40. Name the highest mountain in South America. 



G-RAMMAR— One Hour. 

EXERCISE. 

In old times, long, long ago^ when Night and Day 
were young and foolish, and had not discovered how 
necessary they were to each other's happiness and 
well-being, they chased each other round the world 
in a state of angry disdain, each thinking that he alone 
was doing good, and^ that, therefore, the other, so 
totally unlike himself in all respects, must be doing 
harm, and ought to be got rid of altogether, if possi- 
ble. 

1. About how many words in the English lan- 
guage ? 

2. Which division of Grrammar treats of the deri- 
vation of words ? 

3. Grive a rule for dividing a word into syllables. 

4. Write the possessive plural of money, penny, 
and talisman. 

5. What adjectives are compared ? 

6. What pronouns indicate gender ? 

7. What two distinct offices are performed by the 
relative ? 

8. In the sentence. Whoever is deceived thereby 
is not wise, parse whoever. 

9. When is ought present and when past ? 

10. What parts are called the principal parts of the 
verb, and why are they so called? 

11. In the sentence, The boy studies, is the verb 
transitive or intransitive ? 

12. Explain the difference in signification between 



ALBAWY, JUL Y 16, 17, 1878. li 

these two expressions : If he sees the signal he will 
come : If he see the signal he will come. 

13-15. Give all the participles, active and passive, 
of eat, drink, and break. 

Correct the following, and give the reason for the 
correction : 

16. Virgil has often been compared to Homer. 

17. Have you got a hammer? 

18. She writes very weU for a new beginner. 

19. Thou hast protected us and shall we not honor 
you? 

20. Name the leading proposition in the exercise. 

21. Is the part following disdain grammatically 
connected with the preceding part of the exercise? 
If so, how is it connected ? 

22. How many propositions in the exercise ? 

23. Name any infinitive phrase in the exercise, 
and give its syntax. 

24. Make a Hst of the transitive verbs in the exer- 
cise, and write the subject and object of each. 

25. In what gender are Night and Day ? 

26-28. Parse the word each where it occurs in the 
exercise. 

29-40. Parse the italicized words in the exercise. 



HISTORY— One Hour. 

1. Which of the thirteen original colonies were 
settled by the Dutch ? 

2. What territory did England claim on account of 
the discoveries of the Cabots ? 

3. When and where were the first settlements 
made in New York? 

4. State the principal cause of the French and 
Indian War. 

5. What territory did England acquire as a result 
of this war ? 



lii FIFTH STATE EXAMINATION, 

6. In what year were you born, and who was 
President of the U. S. then ? 

7. What was the principal cause of the Revolu- 
tion ? 

8. Which was the decisive battle in that war ? 

9. ISTame two battles in which Washington was 
victorious. 

10. Name two in which Washington was defeated. 
11-12. Grive a short account of the first and the 

last battle. 

13. What was the first method adopted by the 
United States for raising a revenue ? 

14. When did the constitution of the United 
States go into operation ? 

15. Who was the third President of the United 
States, and where was he inaugurated ? 

16. What was the cause of the second war with 
England ? 

17. Who was President of the United States 
during that war ? 

18. Who led the Americans in the battle of Lun- 
dy's Lane ? 

19. Which was the decisive battle in this war? 

20. Grive a short account of the last land battle 
during this war. 

21. What practice was inaugurated by Jackson 
when he became President ? 

22. What was the " Monroe Doctrine ? " 

23. What General commanded the Union army at 
the beginning of the Eebellion, and by whom was 
he succeeded? 

24. Name the respective commanders in the battle 
of G-ettysburg ? 

25. Who was President one month? 



ALBANY, JULY 16, 17, 1878. liii 

METHODS AND ECONOMY— Oxe-half Hour. 

1-2. In a primary school, on what would you base 
promotions ? On what in a g-racled school ? 

3. In a graded school would you recommend writ- 
ten examinations as often as once a month ? 

4. If a scholar is indifferent about failures, how 
would you arouse his ambition ? 

5. In assigning a lesson to a class, is it well to 
consult the class about the length of the lesson ? 

6. State your method of conducting a recitation 
in reading, 

7. In teaching fractions, percentage, etc., would 
you require general or special rules ? 

8. In our public schools, would you expect scholars 
to complete a subject as they advance, or would you 
expect them to get an elementary knowledge at first 
and then take it more thoroughly when they review ? 

9. Would you give scholars in a primary school a 
text-book in arithmetic ? 

10. In a beginners' class — in arithmetic, grammar, 
geography, etc., — would you commence with a text- 
book, or would you give them oral instruction for 
six months or a year ? 



SCHOOL LAW— One-half Hour. 

1. Can a teacher make up lost time on a legal 
holiday. 

2. Does a teacher's jurisdiction extend beyond the 
school premises ? 

3. Name three things for which a teacher can be 
removed. 

4. Can a teacher legally inflict corporal punish- 
ment ? 

5. Is the apportionment of State money to a dis- 
trict based on the aggregate or upon the average at- 
tendance ? 



Uv FIFTH ST A TE EXAMINA TION". 

6. Can a Commissioner annul, a State Certificate ? 

7. Can a teacher prescribe the studies that a pupil 
must take ? 

8. Can a teacher expel a pupil from school ? 

9. If a scholar has been suspended from school for 
bad conduct, how can he be re-instated ? 

10. State the different ways in which a teacher 
can be hcensed. 



TOPICAL INDEX 

TO COMMON SCHOOL LAW. 



Part I. THE TEACHER'S QUALIFICATION.5-17 

Chap. I. GRANTING OF LICENSES 6 

1. Necessity OP A License 5 

2. How Licenses ake Obtained 6 

a. Normal School Diplomas 7 

b. State Certificates 8 

c. State Licenses 8 

d. City Certificates 8 

e. Commissioners^ Certificates 9 

{a) Moral character 9 

(/?) Learning (California standard) 10 

(y) Ability to teach 13 

3. When Licenses may be "Withheld 13 

a. The Teacher may Appeal 14,16 

4. When Cektificates may be Annulled 14 

a. For Evidence against Moral Character 14 

b. For Deficiency in Learning or Ability 15 

5. Appeals to the State Superintendent 16 

Part IL THE TEACHER'S CONTRACT.. 18-33 

Chap. H. MAKING OF CONTRACT 18, 94, 95 

1. Prerequisites to Contract 19 

a. A Certificate 19 

6. Non-relation to the Trustees 19 

c. The Bight of Minors to Contract 19, 27 



Ivi TOPICAL INDEX. 

2. With Whom the Contract is made 20 

a. Where there is One Trvstee 20 

b. Where there are Three Trustees 20 

c. Whe7'e there are Two Trustees 21 

Chap. III. CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT 22 

1. Duration op Contract 22 

a. '■' During satisfaction''' 22 

b. Number of Days 22 

c. Holidays — 23 

d. Attendance at Institute 23 

2. Duties op the Teacher 24 

^ a. To keep a successful School 24 

b. To keep School open every Day. 24 

c. To Instruct all Pupils admitted 25 

d. To fill out the School Register 25 

e. To do Janitor work only voluntarily 25 

3. Amount and Manner of Payment 26 

a. How to Enforce Payment 27 

Chap. 4. BREAKING OF CONTRACT 28 

1. For Closing School 28 

2. For Annulment of Certificate. . . „ 28 

3. For Incompetence or Immoralitt 28 

a. Usage in different States 28 

b. Incom,petence must be Marked 29 

c. A Case in Rhode Island 30 

d. A Case in New York 30 

4. The Teacher's Defence against Injustice 33 



Part III. THE TEACHER'S AUTHORITY.. 34-88 

Chap. V. ABSENCE AND TARDINESS , 34 

1. Relation op the Teacher to the Trustees 34 

2. The Hours op School 35 

a. Usage in. the United States 35 

b. Instruction in Outside Branches. 36 



TOPICAL INDEX. Ivii 

c. RegulatVy and Punctuality Ccympulsory 36 

(a) Exercises outside the School Building. .. 38 

((3) Catholic Holidays 38 

(y) The Jewish Sabbath ...38 

(d) A Cautiou. Opposing Decisions ...39 

Chap. VI. CONTROL OF THE CHILD'S STUDIES 41 

1. Usually attributed to the Trustees 41 

2. The Wisconsin Decision 4*2 

a. The Case 42 

b. Opiniorts of Educational Men ? 43 

c. Legal Decisions 44 

d. A Late Decision in New York 45 

3. The Modern Tendency of Opinion 46 

Chap. VII. THE BIBLE, AND RELIGIOUS EXERCISES... 50 

1. The Law in New York 50 

2. In Other States 53 

Chap. Vm. SUSPENSION AND EXPULSION 55 

1. What the Teacher may Require 55 

2. For what Pupils may be Expelled 56 

a. The Teacher may Suspend 56 

b. The, Tr-nstees may Expel 57 

3. How to Enforce Expulsion 59, 64, 70 

4. How Long should Suspension Continue? 59 

a. A New York Decision 59 

b. The Usual View 61 

c. A Bhode Island D cision 61 

Chap. IX. THE TEACHER AND THE PARENT 63 

1. Source of the Teacher's Authority 63 

2. School-house the Master's Castle 63 

3. On the Road to and from School 65 

a. In the School-room, Absolute 65 

b. On the Playground, Absolute 65 

c. On the Boad, Concurrent 66 



Iviu TOPICAL INDEX. 

4. No Damages for Expulsion 70 

5. Detention after School. 72 

6. Dignity op the Teacher's Office 73 

Chap. X. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT 74 

1. The General Law 74 

a. The Teachermay Inflict it 75 

6. Cause, Instrument, Extent, Temper. 75 

c. The Teacher held responsible for Excess. 75 

d. Has same Eight as the Parent 76 

e. Musi be Inflicted without malice 76 

3. Prbferablb to Expulsion 77 

3. Severity 78 

a. The General Principle 78 

h. A Case in North Carolina 79 

c. A Case in Illinois 80 

d. A Case in Connecticut 80 

e. Two Cases in New York 82 

Chap. XI. IN LOCO PARENTIS 84 

Part IV. SUPPLEMENTARY. 89-lviii 

References to Decisions 89-93 

FORM FOR TEACHER'S CONTRACT 94,95 

APPENDIX. 
New YoBK State Examination Questions i-liv 

INDEX Iv-lviii 



THE 



Sclofll Biilleiin PttWicatiflns. 



1. Thii School Bullbtik and Neav Yoki? State Edxtcational 
Journal.— The largest and cheapest monthly School Journal in the United 
States. . One Dollar a year. Specimens Ten Cents. 

2. Bound Volumes of thb School ^Bulletin. —Yolumes First, Second 
and Third, each handsomely bound in brown cloth, with gilt stamp on side 
and back. Volume Fii'st, $3.00. Volume Second, '^Uh'd. Volume Third, $2.00. 

3. The School Bulletin Year-Book..— vol. I., 1878. A complete 
Educational Directory of New York State. Cloth. One Dollar. 

4. Common School Law for Common School Teachers.— The stand- 
ard text-book, pocket edition, handsomely bound. President White of 
Cornell says : "Not only every teacher in the State, but every member of 
the Legislature and every Supervisor and School Commissioner should 
have one." The London Schoolmaster (England), says : "It would seem 
that a similar work, treating of the legal rights, duties and statutes of 
Englisli Schoolmasters, is rtiuch needed." Fifty Cents. 

5. DeGraff's School Room Guide, embodying the instruction given 
by the author at Teacher's Institutes, and especially intended io assist 
Public School Teachers in the practical work of the school room. 500 
pages. Cloth. One Dollar and a Half . 

6. The Philosophy of School Discipline.— By John Kennedy. 23 
pages. Flexible cloth. Fifteen Cents. 

7. The Regents' Questions, 1868 to 1877.— These are the questions 
given from the first by, the Regents of the University of the State of New 
York, to determine what pupils in Academies and Union Schools are suf- 
ficiently advanced in Aritiimetic, Geography, Grammar, etc., to pursue the 
higher branches. The qucs^tions are therefore pi'actical and an admirable 
drill in any school. Completer Cloth. One Dollar. 

8. The Regents' Questions Separately —Tour volumes, cloth bound, 
containing respectively the questions in (1) Arithmetic, (2) Geography, (3) 
Grammar, (4) Penms^nship and Spelling. These handsome little books 
are ndmirably adapted to class use. Twenty-five Gents each. Keys to the 
Arithmetic and Geoirraphy, 1 wenty-five Cents each. Key totheCh^ammar, 
with references for every ansiuer,%l.QQ. ^ __ r 

9. The Regents'' Arithmetic Question Slips.— Each question is 
printed , on a separate slip of cardboard, the coI(>r corresponding to the 
subject of arithmetic which the problem lUustr ttes..^ One box answers for 
a whole school, and questions suited to any grade may be selected at sight 
by the color of the cards. A key accompanies the box. One Dollar. 

10. Regents' Examlvation Paper. —Legal cap, specially ruled and 
prepared for the purpose under direction of the^Board of Regents. By 
Express, $3.50 a Ream ; &,y iVtail, Txventy-five Cents a Quire. 

11. Beebe's First Steps among Figures. — The simplest and clearest 
preparatory work in Arithmetic everpuhlished. Adopted for exclusive use 
in Ontario County. lOT pages. Boards. Teachers' 
Edition, including the Pupils' Edition and a Key to both Editions. 300 
pages. Cloth. One Dollar. 



12. A WoiiE JN Number. By Martha Roe. Intended for Junior Classes 
and containing three years' work. 161 pages. Cloth.^ Fifty Cents. 

13. Bradford's Thirty Pkoblems or Percentagk.— A drill-book. 
19 pages. Flexible cloth. Twenty-Jive Cents. 

14. Northam's Civil Goverkmejst, for Common Schools, to which is 
appended the Constitution of the State of New York,-as receiiily amended. 
Cloth, handsomely bound. Seventy-Jive Cents. , 

15. Dissected Maps of the State of New York and of the United 
States. Each County and each State separate, and of exact shape. In neat 
box, each. Seventy Jive Vents. 

16. Studies in Articui^ation.— By James H. Hoose, Ph.D., Principal 
of the Cortland State Nonnal School. This not only analyzes each sound 
in the language, but gives as illustrations hundreds of words commonly 
mispronounced. Hon. W. D. Henkle, editor of tlie National Teacher, and 
of Ed '/cation at Notes arid Queries, says : " It is needle^^s to say that we 
are pleased with this hook, for it presents just what we have for years 
discussed in Teachers' Institutes, and urged should be taught. in schools." 
Fifty Cents. ^ 

17. Frobisher's Good Selections. — This book admirably meets the 
demand for a book of fresh pieces of prose and poetry for hight-r reading 
classes. It contains 168 pages in clear type, and should be in the hands of 
every teacher. Paper. Twenty-Jive Cents ; boards, Forty Cents.. 

18. Johonnot's School Houses.— This new and finely illustrated 
octavo volume is the standard work upon School architecture, and should 
be owned by everySchool Board. Two Dollars. 

19. American Libra'rt' of Education.— I. Locke's Essay on Edu- 
cation. II. Locke on Reading, and Milton on Education. III. Horace 
Mann on Physiology in Schools."' JV, University Addresses of Froude, 
Carlyle. Mill, etc. V., VI. The Bible in the Public Schools. Tiventy-Jive 
Cents each. 

20. The Diadem of School Songs, by Wm. Tillinghast, with a Complete 
System of Instruction, and pieces adapted to every occasion. 16(1 pages, 
boards. Ffty Cents. 

21. Rxan's School Record. — The entire record of a school may be kept 
without copying, and a weekly report sent home each week, at the expense 
per term of 14 weeks, for 56 pupils, of Fifty Cents. 

23. The Peabody Class Record, a unique system of permanent class 
reports. The plan of ruling and cwtting must be seen to be appreciated. It 
saves time as BO other can. No. 1, 5x9 inches, 100 pages, $1.00 ; No. 2, 
SxlO>^ inches, $1.50. -' 

23. Shaw's Scholar's Register. — The recitation is marked by the pupil 
in lead pencil. The teacher marks the changes wiihink, makes the average 
for the week, and carries it to the abstract. Specimens^ Six Cents; per 
dozen, Fifty Cents. 

24. Commissioners' Certificates. — ^We^now print the certificates issued 
to teachers by nearly all the commissioners of the State. We print the 
name of the Commissioner, Cour.ty and District, and bind in books of one 
hundred: each, of any grade wanted. One Dollar per boolc. lostage., Fif- 
teen Cents. 

25. Complete Illustrated Catalogue of these and the rest of the 
School Bulletin Publications. Mailed to any address on receipt of two three- 
cent stamps. 

Davis, Bardeen & Co., Publishers, Syracuse, N. Y. 



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